Degenerate Art

Art condemned by the Nazi regime in Germany from 1933. The name was taken from a travelling exhibition mounted by the Nazi Party in 1937 to show modern art as ‘sick’ and ‘decadent’ – a view that fitted with Nazi racial theories. The exhibition was paralleled by the official Great German Art Exhibition to display officially approved artists. However, five times as many people (more than 3 million) saw the former as the latter. Artists condemned included Max Beckmann, Emil Nolde, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse, Ernst Barlach, and Pablo Picasso.