Art in The Third Reich

How are good and bad art distinguished from one another in the Third Reich?

What makes a discussion about good art and bad art in the Third Reich so difficult is that the aesthetic value that was given to the art work was based on an ideology of purity that was, inherently, aesthetic. Each day, every one of us will make countless aesthetic judgments and decide what is good art and bad art. Historically, this has taken place in a number of different periods throughout Western history. Consider how what has constituted good art and bad art has changed and been debated from periods such as the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, Realist, Modern, and Contemporary. Yet, what distinguished good art from bad art in these periods was based on stylistic differences. In the Third Reich, good art and bad art was evaluated by considering not the brush strokes, perspective, different shapes and forms that were used and how they were used, but rather on the inherent ideal of purity that was inherent in the artwork. So when one considers the good art in the Third Reich, one notices that all of the art upholds the ideology of purity of the German people by the nature of it looking aesthetically pure. This might be presented with countless artistic styles, but the style that mattered was the one that presented and upheld this ideology. In turn, bad art was art that detracted from this purity. This was no more apparent then in the fact that any art that was created by Jews, communists, or enemies of the state of Germany was considered to be bad on the basis of the artists lack of purity. Bad art was also evaluated by the lack of an artistic style that upheld the purity of form the Nazis were pushing. Although this was not presented in the film, one can surely assume that the Nazis would have disliked Surrealist art for its lack of upholding this aesthetic of purity.

As stated at the beginning, discussing this topic is difficult because the Nazis had a particular way of evaluating the artwork. Yet, what is difficult to reconcile, and what one must ask, is were the Nazis allowed to evaluate art the way they wanted too? This is certainly not a question that can be answered in this short consideration, but it is one that must be on the table regardless. If I can decide what I find aesthetically pleasing, are Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler and all the rest not allowed to do the same? I will not answer this question for the sake of allowing one to consider it and struggle with it on their own.