''Make Everything Great Again'' was a

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant gr ...

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

by artists Dominykas Čečkauskas and Mindaugas Bonanu. It was located on the wall of the

barbecue restaurant A barbecue restaurant is a restaurant that specializes in barbecue-style cuisine and dishes. Barbecue restaurants may open relatively early compared to other restaurants, in part to optimize sales while barbecued foods being slow-cooked by the pr ...

''Keulė Rūkė'' ( Lithuanian for "Smoking Pig" (literal translation "The pig was smoking")) in the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

area of old town of Vilnius in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The mural depicting then U.S. Republican presidential

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

giving a fraternal kiss to the Russian president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

was unveiled in May 2016. The caption ''Make Everything Great Again'' plays on Trump's campaign slogan "

Make America Great Again "Make America Great Again" (MAGA, ) is an American political slogan most recently popularized by Donald Trump during his successful presidential campaigns in 2016 and in 2024. "MAGA" is also used to refer to Trump's ideology, political bas ...

". The ''Keulė Rūkė'' restaurant closed its doors in October 2019. Since July 2019, the mural was reported to have been painted over with a message "make empathy great again", although a small version of the original mural remained on a wall in the inner courtyard of the building.

History

Background

The artwork was unveiled in May 2016. ''Make Everything Great Again'' appeared on the wall after Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump exchanged statements of mutual

admiration Admiration is a social emotion felt by observing people of competence, talent, virtuous actions, or skill exceeding standards.Algoe, S. B., & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: The ‘other-praising’ emotions of elevation, grati ...

, with the

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

describing Donald Trump as "a very colorful person, talented without any doubt," with Donald Trump replying that it was "a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond."

Inspiration

The image drew inspiration from photographs from 1979 of

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

and

Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the post ...

kissing as part of the socialist fraternal greeting which in turn inspired the 1990 graffiti painting '' My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love'' portrayed on the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

Dmitri Vrubel Dmitri Vladimirovich Vrubel (; 14 July 1960 – 13 August 2022) was a Russian painter. He was best known for his East Side Gallery-painting '' My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love'', depicting the kissing communist leaders Leonid Brezh ...

. One of the artists, Dominykas Čečkauskas, owned the restaurant that had asked for the artwork. He said in an interview: "We saw similarities between the two

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

es (Trump and Putin). ... They both have an ego that is too big, and it is funny that they get along well." Čečkauskas said "We are in a sort of a

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

again, and America may get a president who will want to be friends with Russia." The artists, with the help of the mural, predict that if Russia and the US would ever "make out, it would happen in the Baltic states ... with tongues or with tanks.”. The other artist, Mindaugas Bonanu, has stated that the kiss is not necessarily homoerotic. "I think there's nothing gay about them. They are kissing, right, like a Soviet Union thing; I think it's more about the past. But a lot of people especially in the US don't know the history," he has been cited as saying.

Vandalism and restoration

In August 2016, the mural was defaced by unknown individuals with white paint. It was subsequently restored, albeit changed into an image of Trump and Putin shotgunning a

joint A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

Government reaction

Vilnius Mayor

Remigijus Šimašius Remigijus Šimašius (born 12 January 1974) is a Lithuanian lawyer and politician, member of Seimas (2012–2015), Minister of Justice (2008–2012), Mayor of Vilnius from 2015 to 2023. Education In 1997 Šimašius graduated from the Facul ...

emphasized the values of

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

in his city in a statement to Lithuanian media organization LTnews.net: "There is no censorship in our city. That's why I support the idea of making this graffiti. It shows that Vilnius is the city of freedom, love and beauty." Šimašius further remarked on a post to his

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

: "Vilnius is a city of freedom, where we don't have to be afraid of weapon rattling just several dozen kilometres away and express what we believe in without censorship."

Commentary

The work rapidly became popular and commented upon both within its home country and in global newspapers. ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'' commented, "Once the initial shock has passed of seeing such testosterone-fuelled survivors of Cold War tension kissing, a closer look at the mural reveals a level of subtle political commentary that cuts against the superficial sensation." ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' called it "a provocative mural, to say the least." ''

Market Watch This is a list of programs broadcast by CNBC. CNBC is an American basic cable, internet and business news television channel owned by NBCUniversal News Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It was originally established o ...

'' noted the mural had the impact of "sending a few ripples across the globe."

References

{{Trump media 2016 works 2016 establishments in Lithuania Street art Political art Lithuanian art Culture in Vilnius Parodies of Donald Trump Cultural depictions of Vladimir Putin Caricatures of presidents of the United States Counterculture of the 2010s Vandalized works of art Works about kissing Murals Murals of people