Not everybody gets modern art.
Visitors look at works in the Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich, which opened on July 19,1937.
It was Hitler who decided what was modern and what was acceptable art.
Hitler dismissed the jury and appointed his personal photographer to make a new selection.
Goebbels chose art specifically from the Weimer era, which he called the era of decay.
Under the Weimar government of the 1920s, Germany had emerged as a leading center of theavant-garde.
It was not an elegant exhibition.
Pictures were crowded together, sometimes unframed, usually hung by cord and partially covered by derogatory slogans.
The first three rooms were grouped thematically.
The rest of the exhibit had no particular theme.
Goebbels viewing the Degenerate Art exhibition.
Yet,Entartete Kunstreceived nearly three and a half times more visitor than the nearby Grosse deutsche Kunstausstellung.
Max Beckmann fled to Amsterdam on the opening day of theEntartete Kunstexhibit.
Max Ernst emigrated to America while Ernst Ludwig Kirchner committed suicide in Switzerland.
A leading German dealer, Alfred Flechtheim, died penniless in exile in London.
Front cover of the guide for the infamous “Degenerate Art Exhibition”.
Others, like Otto Dix, changed their style so as not to provoke authorities.
After the exhibition, nearly 4,000 artwork were burned.
The couple Sophie and Emanuel Fohn, also managed to save about 250 works by ostracized artists.
The collection was handed over to the Bavarian State Painting Collections in 1964.
Photo:Museum of Modern Art
Photo:Museum of Modern Art
