Thierry Noir

Born 1958 – Lyon, France.

Noir moved to Berlin in January 1982 and found a place to live close to the Berlin Wall – a squat in Mariannenplatz.

He was attracted and influenced by the music of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, both of whom lived in West Germany at the time.

In April 1984 he began, along with Christophe Bouchet, to paint the Berlin Wall.

He is said to be the first artist to paint on the Berlin Wall and eventually painted 4000 kilometers of it.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, his work became a symbol of newfound freedom, especially across reunified Germany.

His simple, brightly coloured paintings have survived longer than all of the rest and traces of his work can still be found at the East Side Gallery of the wall – probably the biggest open-air gallery in the world.

His work can also be found on the portion of the wall that is in a courtyard on 53^rd Street, between Madison and 5^th Ave in New York City.

U2 included Noir’s work on Trabant cars and used photographs of theses vehicles to decorate their 1991 album Achtung Baby.

In aid of a well-known German child relief organization, Noir designed a Buddy Bear that was subsequently called Teddy Noir.