André Sécrit, born in East Berlin in 1966, is a painter and varnisher. He collaborated with Karsten Thoms on an untitled work in the East Side Gallery, showing a view of the earth in space through a hole in the Wall.
The Wall painting by Sécrit and Thoms depicts a hole in the Wall, through which the earth can be seen, floating in space. A yellow band stretches from the Wall to the earth, which in the original version of 1990 appeared to be the edge of another, hollow planet. On the Wall the words are written: “Du hast gelernt / was Freiheit heißt / und das vergiss nie mehr” (“You have learned / what freedom means / and never forget it”). The painting seems to convey the widespread sense of new opportunities after the fall of the Wall.
André Sécrit lives and works as a painter and varnisher in Berlin. After almost 30 years’ self-employment, in 2021 he became area manager of a painting workshop in Berlin. He has said that he spontaneously painted his work in the East Side Gallery in a spirit of euphoria, sparked by his release from national service in the GDR army and the Peaceful Revolution. He painted it together with his comrade Karsten Thoms. The Gallery coordinator Christine MacLean caught them painting without permission on the Wall but liked the work and let them continue.
