german art

german art

An Investigation into Nazi Art

In less than a year (1933 – 1934) Hitler declared himself Führer – the leader of Germany. He would ban modern art, as he suspected it to be un-German or Jewish Bolshevist. Those who were identified as degenerate artists were then open to sanctions. Hitler’s rise to power in January 31 1933 was quickly followed by his actions of cleansing the culture of degeneracy. This included book burning, whilst artists and musicians were dismissed of their teaching roles.

German artists were seen as enemies of the state, and also a threat to the German culture, and so they went into exile.

For my A2 Fine Art Essay, I have decided to do an investigation into artists during the Nazi movement. I have chosen this topic, because I find the Nazi movement very interesting; it was one of the many massive events in history, and the whole period of it was very traumatic and tragic for many people. The fact that it still has effects on people today, just shows the massive impact one person had on all those people.   I would like to find out if these feelings, expressions and the whole event of Hitler’s power, affected artists during that period in time.


“Degenerate artists” definition: having lost good or desirable qualities.
    Otto Dix was a painter and printmaker in Germany, who started out by painting people’s portraits for money. He progressed further by making other pieces, which look quite surreal and like the work of Salvador Dali, and shortly became famous for his unique and grotesque style in his work. He became one the most important artists in the Neue Sachlichkeit – an art movement in Germany, including works of pictorial art, literature, music and architecture (See fig. 1)
    When the First World War started, Dix volunteered for the army. However the effects of the war were too much for him, and he’d often suffer recurring nightmares in which he would be crawling through destroyed houses. These traumatic...