degenerate art

Degenerate Art was discovered in Germany by the Nazi regime. It was considered to be virtually all modern art.
The Degenerate Art show held by the Nazis in Munich in 1937 was one of the most famous exhibitions of the 20th century. In the modern styles of art, the Nazis would create paintings and sculptures to show racial purity, militerism and obedience. It was designed to bring out public opinions against modernism, making it humorous to the public. Such art was banned on the grounds as it was seen to be un-German, Jewish or communist, and those that were seen as degenerate artist would be forbidden to exhibit or sell their art, produce art nor teach. Some pieces would be for sale in auction, some were acquired by museums and other private collectors. Some were appropriated by Nazi Officials and were burned. Josef Goebbels ordered a more thorough scouring of German art collections after the exhibition, bringing the total number of works seized by the Nazis to over 16,000.

There were similar opinions with the degenerate music.A label which started in 1930's by the Nazi government.






Self-portrait by Elfriede lohse-Wachtler who was murdered at Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre in 1943.

Elfriede was a German Painter of the avant-garde whose works were banned as "degenerate art",and some what destroyed by the third reich.She was killed in a former phsyciatric institution at Sonnenstein Castle in Pirna under Action T4,a forced Euthanasia of Nazi Germany.In 1927 to 1931 she painted some of her major works.The portraits of mentally ill people she did in Hamburg-Friedrichsberg and Arnsdof have attracted a lot of interest.As part of the degenerate art,nine of her works were confiscated and more than likely destroyed in 1937.

Artistic movements condemned as degenerate:

Bauhaus

cubism

dada

expressionism

fauvism

new objectivity

surrealism