Was Adolf Hitler Really a Bad Artist?

[Persian Knight]

I saw some of the early works that he did, in particular some renaissance man with a plumed hat. Being an artist myself working in pencils mostly, I thought it was a good beginner for a young man who started in his late teens and his technique could have improved with time.

[Grimgerde]

Exactly. Perhaps if Hitler had dedicated his life to his artwork, their could have been great improvement where people perceive mediocrity. Unfortunately, Hitler had more important things to be distracted with, such as running an entire war.

[BDMhistorian]

Personally, I love to draw and paint and have a reasonable amount of talent. I find it's much different judging artwork if you know the amount of time and effort that goes into a piece such as a detailed pencil piece or a watercolor. As such, I wouldn't call Hitler's artwork bad. Maybe mediocre compared to some of the masters of these mediums, but definitely better than a very large portion of artists, leave alone "critics" who have never touched a pencil or paint brush in their lives. That's my two cents, anyway.

[Boby]

I think is a matter of preconceived views. For example, in a spanish forum, I posting a painting of Hitler, and I said that was painted by (ej. Churchill). Ohh, god paint of Mr. Churchill was the response. These guys, are the same that called Hitlers paints "mediocrities"

So, I repeat, is a matter (for some) of preconceived views.

Best Regards
Boby,

[Persian Knight]

There is no doubt that Hitler had a lot of inner pain that he tried to express some some creative means. Art is in a way about pain which I express at times myself, either through drawing, or playing music. Unfortunately, he did not achieve the relationship he should have with his medium and enentually tried to express his pain, no doubt accumulated through the years of trench warfare, the wounds from World War I and the familly issues with Alois in a very twisted way.

Exactly. Perhaps if Hitler had dedicated his life to his artwork, their could have been great improvement where people perceive mediocrity. Unfortunately, Hitler had more important things to be distracted with, such as running an entire war.

[Mimi]

I cannot believe the amount of praise lavished on his work by a few people here. It is impossible to give a good evaluation of his work as Peter Adams puts it "all must be viewed through the lens of the holocaust".

Ridiculous ! Since when Hitler's paintings and sketches must be seen through the lens of the holocaust ? Hiltler was not even aware of his anti-semitism when he painted most of his works. Picasso was Communist, shall we see his paintings through the lens of the Stalin's purges ? This is really too much !! I don't know this Peter Adams but he must be a serious jerk. Or a rather pedantic idiot !!

[Roderick]

I cannot believe the amount of praise lavished on his work by a few people here. It is impossible to give a good evaluation of his work as Peter Adams puts it "all must be viewed through the lens of the holocaust".

Ridiculous ! I don't know this Peter Adams but he must be a serious jerk. Or a rather pedantic idiot !!

Well put, the lens of this Peter Adams must be broken. Indeed he's a great idiot.

And when Adolf painted his works, he never thought about holocaust.

Rod

[kraft durch freude]

MIMI !!!

"You probaly have not read Albert Speer's Memoirs or Ernst Hanfstaengl's Memoirs or Kesselring's Memoirs. ... ...You are really ill informed and it is a pity to read such posts on such a remarkable Forum. "


You wrote this back in August and haven't been on this thread in a while. Let me now get back to you on this, and you assumptions, completely false, about me.

1. You are obviously upset the read something that goes against what you think you know about Hitler and this has caused you to be offended.

2. I have read both books; from start to finish. I believe Speer never lost faith in Hitler until late 1944; even he hoped, as did most germans, that Hitler would pull another miracle out of his hat to win the war. The only thing he went directly against Hitler for was the scorched earth.

As for his dear "Putzie", Ernst Hanfstaengl, he disliked Hitler because the latter, with Goering, had plotted to fly him out over Spain and drop him in the middle of the republican army during the spanish civil war. I forget over what this was about, but you can understand Putsie would hate him after that, and go work for the American information services.

"Even Goebbels as soon as 1942 had his doubts and began to plot with Speer"

3. And now I ask you to go read Goebbel's diary; you will there discover in a man such unconditional loyalty towards another such as i have never heard of before. Goebbels and Speer did make an alliance, short-lived, to end the power struggles within the party and let them perform their jobs to the maximum effect, so as to win the war.

4. Please stop with the declarations of what you believe ; you pass yourself off as a nazi and that is sad. I find it pathetic how you wrote you last sentence; your only success comes off as being a hypocrite, and as being ill informed as you think I am.

What i wrote about Hitler, has been said of Hitler by many other people, army men and politicians alike; even historians like Trevor-roper agree with this statement.

[Grimgerde]

There is no doubt that Hitler had a lot of inner pain that he tried to express some some creative means. Art is in a way about pain which I express at times myself, either through drawing, or playing music. Unfortunately, he did not achieve the relationship he should have with his medium and enentually tried to express his pain, no doubt accumulated through the years of trench warfare, the wounds from World War I and the familly issues with Alois in a very twisted way.

While I understand what you're saying here, I don't think that Hitler's obvious crowning 'achievement,' his war, was neccessarily motivated by psychological/emotional pain he had suffered from during his childhood or during his service in the First World War. In fact, Hitler and his followers would have said the opposite: Hitler's war was motivated by his will to build a European power dominated by the German Reich.

Besides, I would argue Hitler probably suffered more psychologically when the war really started to turn against Germany than he did at any other point in his life...

"Even Goebbels as soon as 1942 had his doubts and began to plot with Speer"

This sounds hard to believe. I would think Goebbels to be the last person to 'plot against' his Fuehrer.