Degenerate Art's Influence On Adolf Hitler During World War I
Joey Petruska
M. Volker Art 126
11/11/10
Degenerate Art In class the other day, we watched a video about the influence art had on Adolf Hitler during the closing of World War I, the period building up to World War II, and then through the second World War. It was very interesting to find out that Hitler himself was an aspiring artist before he had political motives. In his early adulthood, he twice applied to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and was turned away both times because of his “unfitness for painting” as noted by the Academy. Could this have been the turning point in the young man’s life that eventually stemmed so much hatred, suffering, and tyranny? That is a loaded question. As a boy, Hitler had always been a proponent of German Nationalism. He was brought up on the German-Austrian border and always expressed loyalty to Germany over Austria, but would he have truly been the monster …show more content…
Perhaps as his mind became more methodical, he could have had theories on why he was not accepted as an artist. Remembering those past failures was probably a constant source of infuriation for Hitler, and now that he was more political minded, he could compensate for the fact that he was a failed artist by turning all people against the art that was popular at the time; expressionism. When a person’s dreams are crushed, their ego takes an enormous hit; some people handle that in different ways. For Adolf Hitler, that way was through vengeance and destruction. In 1937 he put on the Degenerate Art exhibit in Munich which displayed the work of many expressionist artists in Germany. They were not on display for praise or admiration, but rather to be gawked at, and disgusted with. I believe this was Hitler’s ultimate satisfaction and revenge for being unaccepted by the art
M. Volker Art 126
11/11/10
Degenerate Art In class the other day, we watched a video about the influence art had on Adolf Hitler during the closing of World War I, the period building up to World War II, and then through the second World War. It was very interesting to find out that Hitler himself was an aspiring artist before he had political motives. In his early adulthood, he twice applied to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and was turned away both times because of his “unfitness for painting” as noted by the Academy. Could this have been the turning point in the young man’s life that eventually stemmed so much hatred, suffering, and tyranny? That is a loaded question. As a boy, Hitler had always been a proponent of German Nationalism. He was brought up on the German-Austrian border and always expressed loyalty to Germany over Austria, but would he have truly been the monster …show more content…
Perhaps as his mind became more methodical, he could have had theories on why he was not accepted as an artist. Remembering those past failures was probably a constant source of infuriation for Hitler, and now that he was more political minded, he could compensate for the fact that he was a failed artist by turning all people against the art that was popular at the time; expressionism. When a person’s dreams are crushed, their ego takes an enormous hit; some people handle that in different ways. For Adolf Hitler, that way was through vengeance and destruction. In 1937 he put on the Degenerate Art exhibit in Munich which displayed the work of many expressionist artists in Germany. They were not on display for praise or admiration, but rather to be gawked at, and disgusted with. I believe this was Hitler’s ultimate satisfaction and revenge for being unaccepted by the art