Wed 10/30-4/20/25
One of the many ways Hitler limited freedom and tried to control how people thought was his crackdown on what he called “degenerate art” — any art that didn’t reflect his specific view of what Germany was. Approved art was only that which expressed the Nazi point of view.
This was going on at the same time art had undergone a series of radical evolutions, with movements starting in the late 19th century restructuring art history and leading to an explosion of new ideas in the 20th century. Hitler tried to stem this tide of innovation with his declaration that it was “degenerate,” seizing or destroying many works, and exhibiting others in shows designed to demonstrate what not to do or be.
Now the Maltz Museum will explore this attempt to stifle art in its new show DEGENERATE! Hitler’s War on Modern Art, which opens October 30 and will be on view through April 20 of next year. It includes work from both private and public collections, illustrating the type of art Hitler considered a threat to the German society he envisioned (“non-Aryan features” were considered a no-no in a painting.) It includes 100 works of art by artists such as Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, George Grosz and Pablo Picasso as well as footage of the 1937 Munich Degenerate Art Exhibition organized by Joseph Goebbels.
The show is included with regular admission. Get tickets here.
Beachwood, OH 44122