Watercolours by Adolf Hitler the Great Viennese Painter

Even the most anti-nazi person should admit that Hitler
yielded a little talent,, notably in the drawing of architectural
buildings like this Arch of Triumph (left) in Munich.

However his sense of colors was weak to say the least,
domineering colors being beige or grey. If we take into
consideration the fact that Hitler attended a drawing school
in Munich for some weeks only (1906), we may estimate
that, with more training and hard work, young Adi would
have been able to achieve some correct works of art or
pieces of architecture. Further works prior to WW1 showed
a better talent and undeniable improvements.

Hitler might even have achieved a honest career as a
painter of second rank or a tolerable architect. The views of
critics who deny Hitler any talent is to my humble opinion
biased and tainted with rabid anti-hitlerism, although very
understandably so. Furthermore it is worthwhile noticing
that, in spite of his hatred for Cubists and other
"degenerated artists", Hitler was influenced by some of them
: the sky in the painting representing a sailing boat towing a
fishing raft strangely resembles van Gogh's skies.

We must also be aware that Hitler painted a lot from
postcards, sometimes copying or even painting over it. As
the historian John Toland said about him, Hitler was more
an architect than an artist. It is really a pity for the world that
he did not graduate from Oberrealschule because he would
have probably made a passable architect. It is plain obvious
that his artistic talent was not great and that he had no
visionary views or a flamboyant imagination. Hitler was no
Kandinksy as clearly shows this 1924 watercolor of a
postman recently sold by an auction house in Cornwall
(England) for £5,200 ($9,100). Had not it been painted by
Hitler, it would probably have reached £20.

It is because he was never able to come up with totally new
concepts or methods, like many Surrealist or Abstract
painters who did not even attend Art Schools or because he
was stranger to innovative painting that Hitler resented and
hated the successful painters of the turn of the century. And
it is only in so far as he was resentful that he can be
described as a failed artist. Else the term of painter of
second rank would be well enough to qualify a guy who was
not an artistic genius, nobody had any doubt about it.

Since the end of the War, the paintings below have all been
presented to the Art market for an asking price ranging from
$1,000 to $50,000 with an average price of $10,000. It is
depressing to realize that the worst drama of all times was
occasioned by the artistic failure of a braggart and a selfish
autodidact whose real talent was demagoguery and oratory.

Albert Speer, his friend and one of his favorite architects,
who knew Hitler well eventually said that "amateurishness
was Hitler's dominant trait. He had never learned a
profession and he basically remained an outisder to all
fields of endeavor. Like many self-taught people he had
no idea what real specialized knowledge meant." And he
concluded that "Adolf remained in the world of his youth :
1880-1910 which stamped his imprint on his artistic taste as
on his political and ideological conceptions." One could not
better say that the Führer was an immature and ignorant
jackass...but he had a small talent for watercolours. That
can not be denied.