Art Propaganda

In 1937 two exhibitions were held in Munich (the city of art in Hitler’s eyes) one exhibition represented the regime that was considered as the best German art and the other was of what was deemed degenerate art. 

The exhibition of great German art was held in a newly built museum, the first of many of Hitler’s grand public buildings, the exhibition held had two purposes. Firstly it was an opportunity for artists to display and sell their work but more importantly an opportunity for people to see ‘true’ German art. Over 16,000 pieces were submitted, only 6,000 of which were chosen. This art was deemed to represent the healthy instincts of the master race. More than 60,000 people attended the exhibition; and was preceded a ‘day of German art’ which later became an annual pageant of 2,000 years of German history parading through Munich. 

The exhibition of degenerate art was opened a day later on the 19th July and was opened by the president of the Art chamber. The exhibition displayed 5,000 degenerate pieces labelled as the work of ‘degenerates’. They all reflected on the disruption of established values under the Weimar Republic that had been the downfall of Germany. The work displayed distorted forms, unnatural colours and unsettling subjects they included works of Emil Nolde, Max Bechmann, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Picasso ect. Over two million people attended this exhibition and after going on a national tour the works were destroyed, sold abroad or kept by Goering. 

Hitler said; ‘its not art that creates new ages, but the ordinary life of a people that adopts new forms and accordingly often seeks a new expression…’ this was a short extract of his speech on opening the exhibition of Great German Art in 1937.