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Sanctioned vs. Degenerate Art

Clockwise from top: An example of art officially sanctioned by the Nazis, Adolf Ziegler’s The Four Elements: Fire (left wing), Earth and Water (center panel), Air (right wing), 1937, hung over Adolf Hitler’s fireplace. Paul Klee’s 1921 watercolor The Angler was mocked by the Nazis for its “primitive appearance.” A trove of confiscated “degenerate” art at the Schloss Niederschönhausen, Berlin, 1938–39, includes masterpieces by Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

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