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| House of German Art | |
|---|---|
| Name | Haus der Deutschen Kunst |
| Native name | Haus der Deutschen Kunst |
| Caption | Southern façade, 1937 |
| Location | Munich, Bavaria, Germany |
| Coordinates | 48.1446°N 11.5701°E |
| Architect | Paul Ludwig Troost |
| Client | Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei |
| Construction start | 1933 |
| Completion date | 1937 |
| Style | Neoclassicism |
| Current use | Museum (Pinakothek der Moderne annex) |
House of German Art is a monumental exhibition building in Munich inaugurated in 1937 to showcase art aligned with National Socialist ideology. Conceived by Paul Ludwig Troost and completed under the supervision of Adolf Hitler, it served as a focal point for official exhibitions and cultural policy during the Third Reich. The building later became part of the postwar cultural landscape in Bavaria and has been subject to restoration, reinterpretation, and controversy in relation to memory, museology, and architectural conservation.
The genesis of the project involved figures such as Adolf Hitler, Paul Ludwig Troost, Martin Bormann, Joseph Goebbels, and institutions like the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, Reichskulturkammer, Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda, and the Kraft durch Freude organization. Construction intersected with political actors including Ludwig Siebert, Gustav von Kahr, Franz Ritter von Epp, and municipal authorities of Munich. The 1930s timeline connects to events such as the Reichstag Fire aftermath, the Nazi seizure of power, the Nuremberg Rallies, and the broader cultural campaigns led by the Kulturpolitische Abteilung of the NSDAP. Funding and patronage tied to personalities like Hermann Göring, Wilhelm Frick, Albert Speer, and private donors associated with the Deutsche Arbeitsfront. The inaugural exhibition and subsequent annual exhibitions featured works selected by curators influenced by critics such as Adolf Ziegler and administrators like Hans Severus Ziegler and linked to controversies surrounding the Great German Art Exhibition and the counter-programming of the Entartete Kunst exhibition organized by figures including Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Emil Nolde, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Marc Chagall whose works were criticized or displayed outside the mainstream. The building’s wartime role intersected with events like the Bombing of Munich in World War II and later occupation by United States Army, American occupation of Germany, and administrators from the Allied Control Council.
Architectural authorship centers on Paul Ludwig Troost, with later interventions associated with Albert Speer and firms connected to the Reichsbank and Baukunst. The style resonates with neoclassical precedents such as the Altes Museum, Königsplatz (Munich), and echoes of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Heinrich Tessenow. Monumental references include the Ludwigstraße (Munich), Walhalla (hall)’s classicism, and comparisons to structures like the Walther Rathenau memorials and Reichstag building renovations. Sculpture and relief programs involved artists linked to the Preußische Akademie der Künste and sculptors like Otto Geyer, Arno Breker, Josef Thorak, Gustav Eberlein, and Hans Scheibe. Materials and techniques recall large-scale projects such as the Olympiastadion (Berlin), Tempelhof Airport, and the stonework traditions of Bavaria’s public monuments. Landscape and urban siting connected the building to Munich landmarks including the Brühl's Terrace, Marienplatz, Englischer Garten, and the Pinakotheken precinct.
The institution staged the annual Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition) and presented works involving painters and sculptors such as Adolf Ziegler, Arno Breker, Josef Thorak, Heinrich van Zelewski, Werner Peiner, Nicolai Fechin, Karl Hubbuch, Christian Schad, Max Liebermann, Franz von Stuck, Ferdinand Hodler, Franz Marc, August Macke, Eugen Bracht, Eduard Gebhardt, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Lovis Corinth, Franz von Lenbach, Franz von Defregger, Wilhelm Trübner, Hans Thoma, Anselm Feuerbach, Adolph Menzel, Caspar David Friedrich, and Friedrich Overbeck. The curatorial program contrasted with the Entartete Kunst exhibition that featured works by Paul Klee, Georg Grosz, Kurt Schwitters, Otto Dix, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Max Beckmann, Oskar Kokoschka, Marc Chagall, and Maurice de Vlaminck. Institutional collection practices intersected with agencies such as the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. Postwar reallocation involved transfers to museums like the Neue Pinakothek, Alte Pinakothek, Pinakothek der Moderne, Haus der Kunst (postwar name), and temporary loans with institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Louvre, Uffizi, Centre Pompidou, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The building functioned as an instrument of propaganda operated by offices including the Reichskulturkammer, Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels, and party apparatuses like the Kulturgemeinde and Kameradschaft. It was central to debates involving ideological gatekeepers such as Adolf Ziegler, Baldur von Schirach, Alfred Rosenberg, and administrators including Martin Bormann and Ludwig Siebert. The site served as a counterpoint to modernist movements associated with Bauhaus, Expressionism, Dada, and artists linked to Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter groups including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and Gabriele Münter. Cultural policy outcomes tied into exhibitions coordinated with events like the Nuremberg Rally, the 1936 Summer Olympics, and state-sponsored publishing by Eher Verlag and the Völkischer Beobachter. The building’s programming influenced collecting, museum acquisitions, and purges such as those implicated by the Degenerate Art exhibition and seizures managed through offices including the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce.
Following the German Instrument of Surrender, Allied authorities and cultural administrators including the Monuments Men and officials from the United States Army repurposed the space for exhibitions, offices, and cultural rehabilitation linked to institutions like the Allied Control Council and the Free State of Bavaria. Postwar management involved figures from the Bayerische Staatsregierung, the Bundesrepublik Deutschland, and curators associated with the Pinakothek der Moderne, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, and the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus. Restoration projects engaged conservationists influenced by debates over Denazification, historical preservation practiced by organizations like Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz, and architects referencing work by Friedrich Kiesler and Oskar Kanehl. Renovations and reinterpretations coincided with exhibitions involving loans from the National Gallery, London, Städel Museum, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Museum Folkwang, Kunsthistorisches Museum, and collaborative programming with the European Union cultural programs.
Scholars, critics, and institutions including Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Gombrich, Rose Valland, John Berger, Aleida Assmann, Siegfried Kracauer, Enzo Traverso, Ian Kershaw, Richard J. Evans, Hannah Arendt, Norman Rockwell, Nicholas Pevsner, Jakob von Uexküll, Georges Sorel, Pierre Bourdieu, Benedict Anderson, Michel Foucault, Raymond Williams, Peter Gay, Natalie Zemon Davis, Svetlana Alexievich, Tony Judt, Zygmunt Bauman, Orhan Pamuk, Simon Schama, Timothy Snyder, Ian Buruma, Hans Mommsen, and Jürgen Habermas have debated its symbolism, memory politics, and museological ethics. The site figures in literature on commemorative practice alongside monuments such as the Holocaust Memorial (Berlin), Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Topography of Terror, Stolpersteine, and historiography concerning Vergangenheitsbewältigung. Contemporary curators and architects, including those from the Pinakothek der Moderne, Haus der Kunst (Munich), Kunstverein München, Deutsches Museum, and international partners, continue to engage the building in discourses on restitution, provenance research, and public history.
Category:Museums in Munich Category:Nazi architecture Category:Art museums and galleries in Germany