"This art is the production of crazy people. Pity the people who are no longer able to control this sickness." -Adolf Hitler, in reference to the Dada movement
During Hitler's tenure as the leader of Germany, art was seen as "one of the most important elements to strengthening the Third Reich and purifying the nation" (FCIT, 2013). It was considered as part of political expression and power, and Hitler preferred work that was "realistic and heroic," portraying his idea of "the true German spirit" (Trueman, 2014). However, there was a significant amount of art that did not meet with the approval of the ruling party. Modern art in particular was abhorred by the group, often referred to by "the terms Jewish, degenerate, and Bolshevik" (FCIT 2013). Art that did not meet with the party's stringent standards was targeted for destruction, and the artists who produced it could often meet with consequences. In their attempt to suppress "unsavory" art, the German government did bring about the destruction of many works of art, but also exposed a wide audience to the movement they hoped to destroy.
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| Entartete Kunst poster. Source: Deutsches Historiches Museum |
In 1927, Germany saw the formation of the National Socialist Society for German Culture, which aimed to "halt the 'corruption of art' and inform the people about the relationship between race and art" (FCIT, 2013). By 1937, the Nazi Party conducted a purge of all the German museums, removing any art they classified as degenerate. "Thousands of so-called degenerate works were destroyed," but some were earmarked for other purposes (Schwartz, 2014). In July 1937, the German government debuted two major art shows - a huge showcase of great German art that embodied all the ideals of the ruling party, and Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art), an "exhibit...designed to ridicule and denigrate creative works not upholding 'correct' National Socialist virtues" (Hammerstingl, 1998).
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| Lines to see the Entartete Kunst show. Source: Red Wedge Magazine |
This exhibit included over 650 works of various mediums, including paintings, sculptures, prints, books, and musical notations. Famous artists whose works were displayed in this exhibit include Chagall, Van Gogh, and Kandinsky. Some artists whose works were considered too inflammatory were not displayed. This included artist Kathe Kollowitz, "because her work was critical of the Nazi regime" (FCIT 2013).
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| Capture of original Entarte Kunst show. Source: Judisches Museum Berlin |
The work that was showcased in the exhibit was "chaotically hung with accompanying criticism and derisive text, in order to clarify to the German people what type of art was considered unacceptable" (USHMM, 2014). After the initial showing in Munich, the show traveled to other parts of Germany and Austria over the next two years, exposing the works to a wide range of people. By the end of its run, over three million people had visited the exhibit, making it "the most widely seen exhibit of modern art" (Hammerstingl, 1998).
A video of the Entartete Kunst 1937 Show. Source: YouTube.
But the end of the exhibit also saw the end of many of the abhorrent artworks. "On March 20, 1939, the Degenerate Art Commission ordered over one thousand paintings and almost four thousand watercolors and drawings burned in the courtyard of a fire station in Berlin" (Hammerstingl, 1998). Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945, also ordered more purging of art from German collections shortly after the exhibition, "bringing the total number of modern works seized by the Nazis to over 16,000" (USHMM, 2014).
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| Recent exhibit of the 1937 art shows side by side. Source: Neue Galerie New York |
Ultimately, though this action led to the destruction of countless works of art, the effort to suppress modern art was unsuccessful. The actions of the Third Reich were unable to stop the progress of art, and their choices ultimately exposed a much larger audience to the artistic movement than it might have otherwise seen.
Sources:
FCIT - Florida Center for Instructional Technology. (2013). Degenerate art: Entartete Kunst. Retrieved from http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/arts/artDegen.htm
FCIT - Florida Center for Instructional Technology. (2013). Nazi approved art. Retrieved from
Hammerstingl, W. (1998). Entartete Kunst. Retrieved from
Schwartz, L. (2014). 'Degenerate' exhibit recalls Nazi war on modern art. Retrieved from
Trueman, C. (2014). Art in Nazi Germany. Retrieved from
USHMM - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2014) 1937 Munich exhibition of degenerate art. Retrieved from http://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-features/collections-highlights/julien-bryan/nazi-germany-1937/1937-munich-exhibition-of-degenerate-art
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