The Degenerate Art Exhibition: How the Nazis Tried to Destroy Modern Art

The regime’s cultural policy, a matter of propaganda

Imagine walking into a room crammed with paintings, where chaos reigns. The works hang crooked, are poorly lit, some seem about to fall. The accompanying signs are filled with insults in bold, jarring letters: “Madness!,” “Degeneration!,” “Danger to Society!” The entire space seems designed not to appreciate art, but to mock it. This was the so-called “Degenerate Art” exhibition.

But why so much effort to humiliate these artists and their works? The answer goes beyond aesthetics. It was not just an art exhibition; it was a propaganda weapon aimed at discrediting everything the Third Reich deemed “decadent” and imposing their singular vision of German art.

The idea of the Degenerate Art exhibition

The Nazis coined the term Entartete Kunst, degenerate art, to delegitimize modern art. They saw it as a threat to their vision of a “pure” German culture. What many considered avant-garde, the Nazis viewed as an abomination. Their most effective weapon against it was propaganda.

They labeled the works of 112 avant-garde artists as “non-German,” “Jewish,” or “communist.” These pieces became the targets of systematic ridicule through a series of carefully orchestrated exhibitions meant for public derision. Since 1933, these “shame exhibitions” portrayed modern art as degenerate. They attacked not only the artists but also the cultural officials who acquired such works during the Weimar Republic, accusing them of wasting money during a time of crisis.

Towards the Entartete Kunst

In June 1937, Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, conceived a more ambitious exhibition. This exhibition would illustrate what he called “the era of decadence” during the Weimar Republic. The aim was to “see and understand” the contrast between that art and the “pure art” promoted by the regime.

On June 30, Hitler, who deeply despised modern art, signed the order authorizing the Degenerate Art Exhibition and the confiscation of works from museums and state collections. Goebbels tasked Adolf Ziegler with leading a commission to search for “degenerate” works.

Within two weeks, the commission had confiscated over 5,000 pieces. Each work was meticulously cataloged, detailing its acquisition, the director under whom it was purchased, and the price paid, to identify those responsible for its inclusion in museums. Ironically, this episode included artists like Emil Nolde, who had been a personal favorite of Goebbels, but was rejected by Hitler.

The theater of humiliation

Finally, the Degenerate Art exhibition opened in Munich on July 19, 1937, just one day after the first Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition). With this move, the Nazi regime made clear its strategy to create a stark contrast between “pure art” and “degenerate art.” As Adolf Ziegler, expressed:

The exhibition featured 650 works of modern art—paintings, graphics, and sculptures—confiscated from 32 museums. To ridicule and discredit this type of art, a deliberately chaotic effect was created. The works were hung carelessly, often high on the walls, without frames, or even crooked.

As a particular detail, the artist’s name, title, originating museum, acquisition date, and price were written directly on the walls next to the pieces, highlighting what the regime considered wastefulness. Insulting slogans and grotesque caricatures were added to further humiliate the creators.

The rooms were organized thematically. One room dedicated space to works with Christian motifs. Another highlighted pieces by Jewish artists, labeled with terms like “Jew” or “Bauhaus professor”. There was a special room for works by university professors dismissed since 1933. Another room was titled “The Room of Madness”, featuring pieces by Johannes Molzan and Wassily Kandinsky, condemned as examples of abstract art.

How the public reacted to the Degenerate Art exhibition?

With over two million visitors, the Degenerate Art exhibition was one of the most attended of its time. Audience reactions varied as much as the works hanging on the walls. Most attendees aligned with the organizers’ views, rejecting the displayed pieces and sharing the disdain the regime aimed to instill.

Some outraged visitors added notes to the artworks, especially regarding their purchase prices, accompanied by insults directed at museum directors and officials who had acquired the pieces. Contemporary witnesses recount how some visitors even spat directly on the artworks. However, there were also those who attended the museum knowing it might be their last chance to see these works in public. After its success in Munich, the exhibition became itinerant, touring several German cities between 1938 and 1941.

The double standards of the art market

Although modern artworks were censored and destroyed, the Nazi regime also saw an economic opportunity in them. To monetize these works, they authorized four art dealers—Karl Buchholtz, Ferdinand Möller, Bernhard A. Böhmer, and Hildebrand Gurlitt—to sell them.

Another example of this practice was the auction organized by the Fischer Gallery on June 30, 1939, at the luxurious Grand Hotel National in Lucerne. The auction attracted collectors and museum representatives from countries such as Switzerland, the United States, Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Sweden. However, the event did not generate the expected profits. Despite the interest, many buyers preferred to stay away for fear of indirectly financing the Nazi regime. The impact of these sales is still felt today, with museums like Museum of Modern Art in New York holding several pieces confiscated by the Nazis. ​​

The legacy of Entartete Kunst

The echoes of Entartete Kunst still resonate today. In 2013, the discovery of Cornelius Gurlitt’s vast collection shocked the art world. This collection contained over 1,250 works by masters like Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Claude Monet, many of which had been looted by the Nazis in 1937. Their discovery prompted German museums to reevaluate their own collections.

Cornelius inherited the collection from his father, Hildebrand Gurlitt. Hildebrand was one of the dealers Hitler tasked with selling so-called “degenerate art” abroad. At the same time, the legacy of Nazi art policies remains a subject of reconstruction and study. For example, the exhibition that opened on July 13, 2017, at Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf honors the artistic treasures lost due to confiscations, many of which will never be seen again.