Vienna State Opera, painted by Hitler in 1912

Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945, was also a painter.[1] He produced hundreds of works when he tried to sell his paintings and postcards to earn a living during his Vienna years (1908–1913) but had little commercial success. A number of his paintings were recovered after the Second World War and have been sold at auctions for tens of thousands of dollars. Others were seized by the United States Army and are still in U.S. government possession.

Style and influences

Hitler's style was very stilted when representing architecture in his paintings. Instead of progressing, his works copied from nineteenth century and other artists.[2] He claimed to be the founder of many artistic movements but drew primarily from Greco Roman classicism, the Italian Renaissance, and Neoclassicism. He liked the technical ability of these artists, as well as the comprehensible symbolism.[3] He called Rudolf von Alt his greatest teacher. Both Hitler and von Alt exhibited an interest in similar subject matter and use of color.[citation needed]

History

Artistic ambition

In his 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf, Hitler described how, in his youth, he wanted to become a professional artist, but his dreams were ruined because he failed the entrance exam of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.[4] Hitler was rejected twice by the institute, once in 1907 and again in 1908. In his first examination, he had passed the preliminary portion which was to draw two of the assigned iconic or Biblical scenes, in two sessions of three hours each. The second portion was to provide a previously prepared portfolio for the examiners. It was noted that Hitler's works contained too few heads.[5] The institute considered that he had more talent in architecture than in painting.[6] One of the instructors, sympathetic to his situation and believing he had some talent, suggested that he apply to the academy's School of Architecture. However, that would have required returning to secondary school from which he had dropped out and to which he was unwilling to return.

According to a conversation in August 1939 before the outbreak of World War II, published in the British War Blue Book, Hitler told British ambassador Nevile Henderson, "I am an artist and not a politician. Once the Polish question is settled, I want to end my life as an artist."[6][4]

Vienna period

From 1908 to 1913, Hitler tinted postcards and painted houses for a living. He painted his first self-portrait in 1910 at the age of 21. This painting, along with twelve other paintings by Hitler, was discovered by U.S. Army Sergeant Major Willie J. McKenna in 1945 in Essen, Germany.[7][unreliable source]

Mother Mary with the Holy Child Jesus Christ, oil on canvas, 1913[8]

Samuel Morgenstern, an Austrian businessman and a business partner of the young Hitler in his Vienna period, bought many of Hitler's paintings. According to Morgenstern, Hitler came to him for the first time at the beginning of the 1910s, either in 1911 or in 1912. When Hitler came to Morgenstern's glazier store for the first time, he offered Morgenstern three of his paintings. Morgenstern kept detailed records of his clientele, through which it was possible to locate the buyers of Hitler's paintings. It was found that the majority of the buyers were Jewish. An important client of Morgenstern, a lawyer by the name of Josef Feingold, bought a series of paintings by Hitler depicting old Vienna.[9]

World War I

When Hitler served in World War I at the age of 25 in 1914, he carried fine paper and canvas with him to the front and spent hours of leave time drawing and painting. The works he painted during this period were among his last before he became a politician. The themes of his wartime painting included farmers' houses, the dressing-station, etc.

Attempt of retrieval and destruction

Peter Jahn was one of the original people assigned by Ernst Schulte Strathaus [de], before Hitler annexed Austria in 1938. Strathaus had been appointed by Hitler in 1936 to locate and buy paintings Hitler had painted from 1907 to 1912, and 1921 to 1922. Jahn spent nearly four years tracking down Hitler's early works, until he was called into military service.[10] Jahn became the Art Consultant to the German Embassy in Vienna in 1937, where he would then search for, purchase, and collect individual pieces of Hitler's art, in order to allegedly destroy a majority of the paintings. Jahn sold one of the largest collections of Hitler's art, about 18 pieces, with an average selling price of $50,000.[10]

Auction sales

A number of Hitler's paintings were seized by the United States Army (some believed to still be in Germany) at the end of World War II. They were taken to the United States with other captured materials and are still held by the U.S. government, which has declined to allow them to be exhibited.[11] Other paintings were kept by private individuals. In the 2000s, a number of these works began to be sold at auction.[12] In 2009, auction house Mullock's of Shropshire sold 15 of Hitler's paintings for a total of £97,672 (US $102,239),[13] while auctioneers at Ludlow Racecourse of Shropshire sold 13 works for over €100,000.[14] In a 2012 auction in Slovakia, a mixed-media painting fetched €32,000.[15] And on 18 November 2014, a watercolour by Hitler of the old registry office in Munich (Standesamt München) sold for €130,000 at an auction in Nuremberg. The watercolour included a bill of sale and a signed letter by Albert Bormann, which may have contributed to its comparatively high selling price.[16][17]

In 2015, an auction was held at the Weidler auction house in Nuremberg where 14 paintings dated 1904 to 1922 by Hitler were sold in total for €391,000. A watercolour of Neuschwanstein Castle by Hitler was sold for €100,000 to a buyer from China. A year previously Weidler auction house had sold a Hitler painting to a buyer from the Middle East for around €152,000.[18]

In July 2017, Mullock's Auctions sold two rare oil pictures. One shows a house at a lake.[19][20]

House at a lake with mountains, 1910
Watercolors owned by one of Hitler's photographers Heinrich Hoffmann stored at the U.S. Army Center of Military History. The paintings were cited in Price v. United States.

Critical analysis

In 1936, after seeing the paintings Hitler submitted to the Vienna art academy, John Gunther, an American journalist and author, wrote, "They are prosaic, utterly devoid of rhythm, color, feeling, or spiritual imagination. They are architect's sketches: painful and precise draftsmanship; nothing more. No wonder the Vienna professors told him to go to an architectural school and give up pure art as hopeless".[6] The directors of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna who rejected Hitler's application to join noted that he struggled to draw people.[21] One modern art critic was asked in 2002 to review some of Hitler's paintings without being told who painted them. He said they were quite good, but that the different style in which he drew human figures represented a profound lack of interest in people.[22][23]

In a report entitled The Water Colours of Hitler: Recovered Art Works Homage to Rodolfo Siviero, prepared by Fratelli Alinari, Sergio Salvi rejects the characterisation of Hitler as "a grim Sunday painter" and describes him instead as a "small time professional painter" of "innocuous and trivial urban landscapes".[1]

Paintings

Working primarily in watercolour, Hitler used the medium to express both his love of painting and architecture.[24] Charles Snyder says that Hitler's watercolours often show detailed attention to architecture in contrast to the conventional and negligent treatment of plants and trees that often frame the subject.[25]

The Courtyard of the Old Residency in Munich, 1914

The Courtyard of the Old Residency in Munich (1914) is a watercolour by Hitler. He depicts the Alter Hof, a stone quad in front of a large manor.[26] During Hitler's time in Munich, he spent most of his days reading and painting, furthering his dream as an independent artist.[27]

The Courtyard... and a few other of his paintings are kept in the basement of the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C., never shown to the public due to their controversial nature.[28]

Gallery

Notes

  1. ^ a b Enzo Colotti; Riccardo Mariani (30 June 2005). The watercolors of Hitler: recovered art works : homage to Rodolfo Siviero; with texts. Fratelli Alinari spa. p. 5. ISBN 978-88-7292-054-1. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  2. ^ Owens Zalamaps, Adolf Hitler, 23.
  3. ^ Price, Hitler The Unknown Artist.
  4. ^ a b Adolf Hitler; Max Domarus (1 April 2007). The essential Hitler: speeches and commentary. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. pp. 15–. ISBN 978-0-86516-627-1. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  5. ^ Owens Zalampas, Adolf Hitler, 16.
  6. ^ a b c Gunther, John (1940). Inside Europe. New York: Harper & Brothers. pp. 1–2.
  7. ^ Brooks, Tony (13 August 2015). "Adolf Hitler's paintings sold for £10k". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Hitler's art". www.sundayobserver.lk. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  9. ^ Brigitte Hamann; Hans Mommsen (3 August 2010). Hitler's Vienna: A Portrait of the Tyrant as a Young Man. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. p. 356. ISBN 978-1-84885-277-8. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  10. ^ a b Snyder. The Real Deal – Adolf Hitler Original Artworks.
  11. ^ Marc Fisher (21 April 2002). "The Art of Evil; Half a century later, the paintings of Adolf Hitler are still a federal case". The Washington Post. p. W.26.
  12. ^ Ng, David (30 January 2012). "Would you buy this painting by Adolf Hitler?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  13. ^ "Mullocks auction house claims art by Adolf Hitler sold for $143K". New York Daily News. Associated Press. 24 April 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  14. ^ "Hitler paintings sold at British auction house". Deutsche Welle. 24 April 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  15. ^ "Hitler painting fetches 32,000 euros in Slovak auction". The Hindu. Agence France-Presse. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  16. ^ Ziv, Stav (22 November 2014). "Watercolor Painting by Adolf Hitler Sells for $161,000". Newsweek. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  17. ^ Holcomb-Holland, Lori (23 November 2014). "Watercolor Attributed to Hitler Sells for $161,000". The New York Times ArtsBeat. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  18. ^ Wolfe, Jonathan (21 June 2015). "Hitler Paintings Are Sold at Auction for $440,000". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  19. ^ "Mullock's Auctions – Attributed Adolf Hitler painting – an oil depicts..." www.mullocksauctions.co.uk. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  20. ^ Feeds, P. T. I. "Four paintings by Hitler fetch 7,500 pounds at auction | India.com". www.india.com. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  21. ^ Childers, Thomas (2001). "The Weimar Republic and the Rise of the Nazi Party". A History of Hitler's Reich, 2nd Edition. Episode 3. The Great Courses. Event occurs at 13:30–13:40. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  22. ^ Spotts, Frederic (2004). Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics. Overlook TP. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-58567-507-4.
  23. ^ "Adolf Hitler's Paintings". bytwerk.com.
  24. ^ Grosshans. Hitler and the Artists. p. 33.
  25. ^ Snyder. The Real Deal: Adolf Hitler Original Artworks.
  26. ^ Price, Billy (1983). Hitler: The Unknown Artist. Houston, Texas: Billy F. Price Publishing Co.
  27. ^ Owens Zalamaps. Adolf Hitler. p. 28.
  28. ^ Johnson, Benny (20 February 2014). "Inside The Army's Spectacular Hidden Treasure Room". Retrieved 20 July 2015. The scene above was filmed at the center for the documentary The Rape of Europa.

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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