As Europeans colonized the rest of the world between the 15th and 19th centuries, they encountered cultures and civilizations distinctly different from their own. These cultures were usually seen as “primitive,” “barbaric,” or “savage.” They tended to be either romanticized or demonized by the Europeans, but regardless of how these foreign cultures were portrayed, there was an unquestionable fascination with them. Over time, with the development of theories about genetics, evolution, psychology, and the rise of modern science in general, members of non-European cultures acquired the labels of “animals,” “degenerates,” and “sub-humans,” among others. The early 20th century saw the rise of the eugenics movement, an orchestrated effort to rid the world of the “unfit,” first in the United States and then, more famously, in Nazi Germany.

At the same time that theories of superior and inferior races of humans were developing, what we now know as modern art was beginning to emerge. The various modern art movements not only challenged the prevailing styles of the times, they also began to question the meaning and purpose of art itself. From Impressionism to Surrealism to the Ready-Made movement, modern art challenged artists and observers alike to expand and redefine their notions of art. Several modern art movements looked to the cultures of faraway times and places for inspiration, and this manifested itself in many ways. One way, of course, is the taking up of “primitive” subject matter in art-- Gauguin, Van Gogh, Picasso, and others were highly influenced by non-European cultures and we can see the results of this in much of their work. Other artists took up “the primitive” in quite a different way. They saw their work as an opportunity to express their innermost thoughts, emotions, and instincts, all of the things that we tend to cover over with the veneer of civilization. Art was a vehicle for getting back in touch with the parts of the self that were repressed for the sake of propriety. To many, this type of art was dangerous and threatening.

Germany in the early 20th century had a large share of artists participating in the various modern art movements, particularly Expressionism. In addition, German museums were very much interested in obtaining modern pieces for their collections. However, Adolf Hitler’s acquisition of power in 1930’s Germany led not only to the persecution of particular groups of people, but also to what amounted to an all out war on culture, specifically targeting the “modern”. Most people are familiar with the book burnings of the 1930’s, but a lesser known event, the Degenerate Art exhibit, demonstrates the extent to which Hitler opposed what he saw as the infiltration of “foreign” and “elitist” ideas in German art and culture. While many of the German artists involved in the Expressionist movement conceived of their art as being very German (artists such as Emil Nolde), Adolf Hitler saw such art as foreign and degenerate. It was something that threatened not only the purity of German culture, but also its very stability and existence. This, of course, was due to the fact that many of the Expressionists took up an exploration of the primitive in the ways described above. Otto Dix, Oskar Kokoschka, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann; these artists and others depicted what was considered ignoble, unutterable, and base in mankind (but also what was very much a part of being human). Hitler, on the other hand, sought to glorify what he saw as being noble in man. One can see the preoccupations of each, of Hitler and of the Expressionists, as clearly arising out of ancient and foreign artistic influences. While the Nazis looked back to the reason, order, and civility of the Greeks, the Expressionists took the ancient, primitive, foreign, and inexplicable as their models- images of the noble savages of the Americas and Africa who were not yet inhibited by the bonds of society. This paper is a consideration of the roots of Nazi-approved and Expressionist art in Germany- where did their respective ideas about art come from, and why? How did each, in its own way, seek to depict “true reality”? And why was this “degenerate” art, this art of “madmen,” so dangerous to Hitler, both personally and as a political leader?