Editing Degenerate art (section)

== Fate of the artists and their work ==
[[File:ELW-Selbstportrait.jpg|thumb|Self-portrait by [[Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler]], who was murdered at [[Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre]] in 1940|left]] [[Avant-garde]] German artists were branded both enemies of the state and a threat to German culture. Many went into exile. [[Max Beckmann]] fled to [[Amsterdam]] on the opening day of the {{lang|de|Entartete Kunst}} exhibit.<ref>Schulz-Hoffmann and Weiss 1984, p. 461.</ref> [[Max Ernst]] emigrated to America with the assistance of [[Peggy Guggenheim]]. [[Ernst Ludwig Kirchner]] committed suicide in Switzerland in 1938. [[Paul Klee]] spent his years in exile in Switzerland, yet was unable to obtain Swiss citizenship because of his status as a degenerate artist. A leading German dealer, [[Alfred Flechtheim]], died penniless in exile in London in 1937.

Other artists remained in internal exile. [[Otto Dix]] was dismissed from his professorship in Dresden in 1933.<ref>Dr Brad Evans. {{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3DjtCQ_26s |title=What is: Degenerate Art? {{!}} HENI Talks |date=2021-02-15 |last=HENI Talks |access-date=2025-01-07 |via=YouTube}}</ref> He then retreated to the countryside to paint unpeopled landscapes in a meticulous style that would not provoke the authorities.<ref>Karcher 1988, p. 206.</ref> The [[Reichskulturkammer]] forbade artists such as [[Edgar Ende]] and [[Emil Nolde]] from purchasing painting materials. Those who remained in Germany were forbidden to work at universities and were subject to surprise raids by the [[Gestapo]] in order to ensure that they were not violating the ban on producing artwork; Nolde secretly carried on painting, but using only [[watercolor]]s (so as not to be betrayed by the telltale odor of [[oil paint]]).<ref>Bradley 1986, p. 115.</ref> Although officially no artists were put to death because of their work, those of Jewish descent who did not escape from Germany in time were sent to concentration camps.<ref>Petropoulos 2000, p. 217.</ref> Others were murdered in the [[Action T4]] (see, for example, [[Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler]]).

After the exhibit, only the most valuable paintings were sorted out to be included in the auction held by Galerie [[Theodor Fischer (auctioneer)]] in Luzern, Switzerland, on 30 June 1939 at the Grand Hotel National. The sale consisted of artworks seized from German public museums; some pieces from the sale were acquired by museums, others by private collectors such as [[Maurice Wertheim]] who acquired the 1888 self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh that was seized from the Neue Staatsgalerie in [[Munich]] belonging to today's [[Bavarian State Painting Collections]].<ref name=":0" /> Nazi officials took many for their private use: for example, [[Hermann Göring]] took 14 valuable pieces, including a [[Vincent van Gogh|Van Gogh]] and a [[Paul Cézanne|Cézanne]]. In March 1939, the Berlin Fire Brigade burned about 4,000 paintings, drawings and prints that had apparently little value on the international market. This was an act of unprecedented vandalism, although the Nazis were well used to [[book burning]]s on a large scale.<ref>Grosshans 1983, p. 113.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olinda.com/ArtAndIdeas/lectures/ArtWeDontLike/entarteteKunst.htm |title=Entartete Kunst |publisher=Olinda.com |date=19 July 1937 |access-date=12 August 2010}}</ref>

A large amount of "degenerate art" by [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]], [[Salvador Dalí|Dalí]], Ernst, Klee, [[Fernand Léger|Léger]] and [[Joan Miró|Miró]] was destroyed in a bonfire on the night of 27 July 1942, in the gardens of the [[Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume]] in Paris.<ref>Hellman, Mallory, ''Let's Go Paris'', p. 84.</ref> Whereas it was forbidden to export "degenerate art" to Germany, it was still possible to buy and sell artworks of "degenerate artists" in occupied France. The [[Nazi]]s considered indeed that they should not be concerned by Frenchmen's mental health.<ref>Bertrand Dorléac, Laurence (1993). ''L'art de la défaite, 1940–1944''. Paris: Editions du Seuil. p. 482. {{ISBN|2020121255}}.</ref> As a consequence, many works made by these artists were sold at the main French auction house during the occupation.<ref>Oosterlinck, Kim (2009). "The Price of Degenerate Art", Working Papers CEB 09-031.RS, ULB – Universite Libre de Bruxelles.</ref>

The couple Sophie and Emanuel Fohn, who exchanged the works for harmless works of art from their own possession and kept them in safe custody throughout the National Socialist era, saved about 250 works by ostracized artists. The collection survived in [[South Tyrol]] from 1943 and was handed over to the [[Bavarian State Painting Collections]] in 1964.{{sfn|Kraus|Obermair|2019|pp=40–1}}

After the collapse of Nazi Germany and the invasion of [[Berlin]] by the [[Red Army]], some artwork from the exhibit was found buried underground. It is unclear how many of these then reappeared in the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[Saint Petersburg]], where they still remain.

In 2010, as work began to extend an [[Rapid transit|underground line]] from [[Alexanderplatz]] through the historic city centre to the [[Brandenburg Gate]], a number of sculptures from the degenerate art exhibition were unearthed in the cellar of a private house close to the "Rote Rathaus". These included, for example, the [[bronze]] [[cubist]]-style statue of a female dancer by the artist [[Marg Moll]], and are on display at the [[Neues Museum]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Hickley |first=Catherine |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-08/-degenerate-sculptures-unearthed-from-bomb-rubble-put-on-show-in-berlin.html |title='Degenerate' Art Unearthed From Berlin Bomb Rubble |publisher=Bloomberg |date=27 September 1946 |access-date=10 November 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2010/11/09/2010-11-09_rescued_prewwii_degenerate_art_on_display_in_the_neues_museum_in_berlin.html |title=Rescued pre-WWII 'degenerate art' on display in the Neues Museum in Berlin |work=New York Daily News |date= 9 November 2010|access-date=10 November 2010 |first=Rosemary |last=Black}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,727971,00.html |title=Nazi Degenerate Art Rediscovered in Berlin |date=8 November 2010 |work=Der Spiegel |author=Charles Hawley}}</ref>