# Was Hitler a Competent Artist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 4, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128 "2011-09-04T02:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/21 "2011-09-04T04:53:18Z")
I feel obliged to add that many years ago, I picked up an instructional book on oil painting at a garage sale written by none other than Winston Churchill. Just to add another level of “weird” to **Leaffan’s** amazement. 😃 [Some of Churchill’s work!](http://www.google.ca/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=673&q=paintings+by+winston+churchill&gbv=2&oq=paintings+by+win&aq=1&aqi=g2&aql=&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=1218l2843l0l4588l16l10l0l0l0l0l266l1833l0.6.4l10l0) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/22 "2011-09-04T05:26:00Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Son of a bitch. > > I had no idea. > > Am I the only one to have missed this hidden talent for the last 60 years? I mean obviously we had other things to focus on, but I had no idea that this was one of Adolf’s hidden talents. It’s like finding out Osama bin Laden had a viable rap career. [Nah, that would be volleyball you’re thinking of.](http://www.cracked.com/article_18748_6-brutal-leaders-their-ridiculous-secret-hobbies.html) ---
**Author:** ![zynik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ec9cab/32.png) [@zynik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zynik)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/23 "2011-09-04T05:38:26Z")
I think between the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts getting a mediocre alumnus cranking out lousy paintings, and a murderous anti-semite, I’d rather have the former. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/24 "2011-09-04T05:41:32Z")
Hitler was a competent artist. He probably could have made a living as a commercial artist with some lucky breaks. But the academy was correct in their assessment - he didn’t have a lot of creative talent. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/25 "2011-09-04T06:29:09Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > …that only thanks to the American art consumer, is it we have saved the world from Thomas Kinkade ascending to supreme dictatorship and launching a campaign of world conquest and extermination… Which raises a terrifying (or ridiculous) question: Had he become an evil supreme dictator, which group of “undesirables” would Kincade have selected as the target for eradication? ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/26 "2011-09-04T06:38:23Z")
> [@Toucanna](#): > > Which raises a terrifying (or ridiculous) question: Had he become an evil supreme dictator, which group of “undesirables” would Kincade have selected as the target for eradication? If Mao Zedong is any guide, traditionally talented artists and other intelectuals. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/27 "2011-09-04T08:02:37Z")
How and where did he learn the little bit he knew? Was he entirely self-taught or did he ever have any formal training? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/28 "2011-09-04T09:24:59Z")
According to [this](http://www.bytwerk.com/gpa/hitlerpaintings.htm), he was self-taught. I quite like some of those, but it’s not enough to rehabilitate Hitler in my eyes. It’s a great shame that Churchill and Hitler couldn’t have settled the whole thing with a simple paint-off. ---
**Author:** ![FasterThanMeerkats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@FasterThanMeerkats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FasterThanMeerkats)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/29 "2011-09-04T14:15:26Z")
The Fuhrer vas a vonderful painter. He could paint an entire flat in one afternoon. Two coats!!😃 Thank you Mel Brooks. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/30 "2011-09-04T14:28:24Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > According to [this](http://www.bytwerk.com/gpa/hitlerpaintings.htm), he was self-taught. > > I quite like some of those, but it’s not enough to rehabilitate Hitler in my eyes. It’s a great shame that Churchill and Hitler couldn’t have settled the whole thing with a simple paint-off. Churchill was a successful journalist and a very good writer so perhaps they could have made a nice illustrated children’s book. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/31 "2011-09-04T14:44:37Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Churchill was a successful journalist and a very good writer so perhaps they could have made a nice illustrated children’s book. … about exterminating Jewish puppies and kittens. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/32 "2011-09-04T14:59:20Z")
Hitler hated the modern art movement. Not to the point of killing them, but he did ridicule their work. > [@](#): > > While modern styles of art were prohibited, \*the Nazis promoted paintings and sculptures that were traditional in manner and that exalted the “blood and soil” values of racial purity, militarism, and obedience. \*Similarly, music was expected to be tonal and free of any jazz influences; films and plays were censored > [@](#): > > Degenerate art is the English translation of the German entartete Kunst, a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German or Jewish Bolshevist in nature, and those identified as degenerate artists were subjected to sanctions. These included being dismissed from teaching positions, being forbidden to exhibit or to sell their art, and in some cases being forbidden to produce art entirely. > > \*Degenerate Art was also the title of an exhibition, mounted by the Nazis in Munich in 1937, consisting of modernist artworks chaotically hung and accompanied by text labels deriding the art. \*Designed to inflame public opinion against modernism, the exhibition subsequently traveled to several other cities in Germany and Austria. > **[Degenerate art](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art)** > > Degenerate art (German: Entartete Kunst) was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, was removed from state-owned museums and banned in Nazi Germany on the grounds that such art was an "insult to German feeling", un-German, Freemasonic, Jewish, or Communist in nature. Those identified as degenerate artists were subjected to sanctions t... ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/33 "2011-09-04T15:02:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Hitler hated the modern art movement. > > [Degenerate art - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art) When the Nazis raided the conquered countries of Europe, didnt they alsot loot famous “Degenerate art” works? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/34 "2011-09-04T15:08:31Z")
A lot of art was looted. Goering especially had a huge amount of looted art that was found by the American military and saved. I’m not sure what the Nazis did with modern art in occupied countries. > **[Looted Hermann Goering paintings catalogued](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4427013/Looted-Hermann-Goering-paintings-catalogued.html)** > > Paintings looted by Hitler's right hand man Hermann Goering have been documented for the first time. > [@](#): > > Goerring attempted to hang onto his art collection at the end of the Second World War by loading the paintings into a fleet of private trains to be taken to the Austrian border. > > But the trains were intercepted by the allies and Goerring apprehended. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/35 "2011-09-04T15:10:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > A lot of art was looted. Goering especially had a huge amount of looted art that was found by the American military and saved. > [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4427013/Looted-Hermann-Goering-paintings-catalogued.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4427013/Looted-Hermann-Goering-paintings-catalogued.html) Yeah, but if they really thought it was degenerate art, why loot it and not destroy it? ETA: you edited your post in the meantime, you degenerate 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/36 "2011-09-04T15:19:12Z")
I got the impression 😉 Goering took more classic pieces from France. Stuff he personally liked. He literally could pick and choose from The Louvre. You’re right. I don’t think they burned or defaced modern art. Even the art in the Degenerate Art exhibition in Germany wasn’t damaged. They’ve exhibited some of it in the past twenty years. I recall news articles talking about the Nazi exhibition and contrasting how popular some of the work is now… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/37 "2011-09-04T15:45:37Z")
> [@Toucanna](#): > > Which raises a terrifying (or ridiculous) question: Had he become an evil supreme dictator, which group of “undesirables” would Kincade have selected as the target for eradication? Hard to say. If you read up on the dirt about Kinkade, you don’t find any obvious pattern that would indicate any group he might target for persecution. He’s got some unsavory habits (he’s a ruthless businessman, he drinks to excess, he likes strip clubs, and apparently he enjoys urinating in public) but there’s no record of him being racist, anti-semitic, or homophobic. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/38 "2011-09-04T16:26:36Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > It’s a great shame that Churchill and Hitler couldn’t have settled the whole thing with a simple paint-off. Oh, but they _did_ have a paint-off. A stormy, testy battle of artistic wills and skills, sometime during the early-to-mid-30’s, which surely deepened their already considerable mutual hatred – and possibly even triggered WWII! [One of the most fascinating events of the 20th century, and yet – sadly, incredibly – almost completely forgotten today.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP7camnyge8) ---
**Author:** ![Meme\_Chose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Meme\_Chose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meme_Chose)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/39 "2011-09-04T16:43:22Z")
In many of the landscapes and cityscapes, there is an obvious entry (door, arch, road, bridge) that is blocked (by a tree, shadow, trough). There’s often a secondary entry, that is less easily accessible–up stairs, in shadows, etc. Draw your own conclusions; I just found it interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128/40 "2011-09-04T16:51:53Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > I feel obliged to add that many years ago, I picked up an instructional book on oil painting at a garage sale written by none other than Winston Churchill. Just to add another level of “weird” to **Leaffan’s** amazement. 😃 > > [Some of Churchill’s work!](http://www.google.ca/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=673&q=paintings+by+winston+churchill&gbv=2&oq=paintings+by+win&aq=1&aqi=g2&aql=&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=1218l2843l0l4588l16l10l0l0l0l0l266l1833l0.6.4l10l0) Beat me to it! I was going to say that IMO Churchill was a superior painter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-competent-artist/595128.md?page=3)