Degenerate art

Degenerate art (from the German: entartete Kunst) was the official platform adopted by the Nazi regime for banning modern art in favor of Heroic Art. Based on Romantic realism, Heroic Art was meant to exemplify the German race in order to project a moral statement in a simpler, and more conventional style. Heroic Art symbolized racially pure art, free from distortion and corruption, while modern styles deviated from the prescribed norm of classical beauty. Racially pure artists produced racially pure art, and modern artists of an inferior racial strain produced works which were contorted. Ironically, the theory originated with the Jewish intellectual, Max Nordau. In the Nazi adaptation it was used to defend claims of a cultural decline and racist theory.

The fate of the artists and their work

Avant-garde German artists, mostly Expressionists, were now branded both enemies of the state and a threat to the German nation. Many went into exile and lost both their reputations and credibility. Max Beckmann fled to Amsterdam on the opening day of the entarte Kunst exhibit. Max Ernst emigrated to America with the assistance of Peggy Guggenheim. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner committed suicide in Switzerland in 1938. Paul Klee spent his years in exile in Switzerland, yet was unable to obtain Swiss citizenship because of his status as a degenerate artist. The Nazi authority that monitored and regulated culture and the arts (the Reichskulturkammer) forbade artists such as Edgar Ende from purchasing painting materials. Those who remained in Germany were forbidden to work at universities and were subject to surprise raids by the Gestapo in order to ensure that they were not violating the ban on producing artwork. Those of Jewish descent who did not escape from Germany in time were sent to concentration camps.

Related Topics:
Nation - Exile - Max Beckmann - Max Ernst - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Switzerland - 1938 - Paul Klee - Citizenship - Reichskulturkammer - Edgar Ende - Universities - Gestapo

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After the exhibit, paintings were sorted out for sale and sold in Switzerland at auction; some pieces were acquired by museums, others by private collectors. Nazi officials took many for their private use: for example, Herman Goering took fourteen valuable pieces, including a van Gogh and a Cezanne. In March, 1939, the German Fire Brigade burned many which had little value on the international market.

Related Topics:
Herman Goering - Van Gogh - Cezanne - 1939

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After the collapse of Nazi Germany when the Russian army was the first to invade Berlin, some artwork from the exhibit was found buried underground. It is unclear how many of these then reappeared in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg where they still remain. The story of how these paintings survived is not documented in public. They are simply listed at the Hermitage as: provenance unknown.

Related Topics:
Russian - Berlin - Saint Petersburg

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