By the time she met Mayakovsky, Lily was already married to Osip Brik. In 1915. Lily's sister Elsa introduced the Briks to her close friend and the novice poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, he came and read his "A Cloud in Trousers". A few days later, Mayakovsky begged the Briks to let him live with them because, he fell in love with Lily. She agreed, and Osip was forced to accept it. This was the beginning one of the most high-profile novels of the century from the Soviet period, "the trinity marriage," rumors of which quickly spread in literary circles.

The "trinity family" lived under one roof and was more than strange: Osip Brik had a constant lover on the side, Lily had affairs with various men, Mayakovsky - with women. They did not hide lovers from each other.

In April 1930, the Briks set off for Berlin. At the hotel they received a telegram from Russia: "This morning Volodya committed suicide." It happened on April 14th. Later in her memoirs, Lily wrote: “I had a dream - I am angry with Volodya because he shot himself, and he kindly puts a tiny pistol in my hand and says:“ You will do the same anyway ”. Lily Brik died in 1978 after drinking a large dose of sleeping pills.

In 1918, Lily Brik and Vladimir Mayakovsky exchanged rings. Mayakovsky presented his beloved Lilya Yuryevna Brik with a ring. The ring had her initials - "ЛЮБ" ("LYB") located in a circle and folding into an endless "ЛЮБЛЮ" ("LOVE"). Lily, in turn, presented Mayakovsky with a ring engraved with the first letters of his first and last name in the Latin alphabet: W and M. The letters located on top of each other mirrored the image of each other.

After Mayakovsky died, the rings were returned to Lily Brik. Vladimir kept them both. Apparently, Lily returned hers to him. Until the very end, she wore these rings on a chain, and refused to give them to the museum. The rings became part of the State Literary Museum collection (Russia) only after her death.

Source: historytime.ru

Photos: Vladimir Mayakovsky and Lily Brik. 1915. @wikipedia.org
Photo of rings. @litfund.ru

Location: State Literary Museum
Russia, Moscow, Trubnikovskiy lane, 17, bldg. 1