Watching last night's World Wars series on the History Channel showed scenes of Hitler's earlier life as a struggling artist in Vienna. This made me wonder what ever came of his paintings. There must be quite a few paintings of his around Europe and I wondered if anyone ever revealed owning one.
Believe it or not, many of Adolf Hitler's old paintings still exist. Most of them were taken as plunder by the United States in World War II, and are still held in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., although they are forbidden to be exhibited and only those with proper credentials can view the works for use of study only. Most, if not all, of the paintings pained by Hitler during his "Vienna period" are included in this collection.
However, some of his paintings did survive the war without being plundered by the U.S., in 2009, fifteen of his works were sold at Mullock's of Shropshire for $120,000, and, only a few weeks later, thirteen of his works were sold at Ludlow’s of Shropshire for a little over €100,000 in total. The record for an individual Hitler painting was made in 2012, when one of his pieces sold for $42,300 at a private auction in Slovakia.
Sources:
Wilkes, David (25 March 2009). "Face of a monster: Self-portrait of Hitler painted when he was just 21 revealed at auction". Daily Mail. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
Marc Fisher, "The Art of Evil; Half a century later, the paintings of Adolf Hitler are still a federal case", The Washington Post, Apr. 21, 2002, p. W.26
"Hitler's art attracts big sale prices". CNN. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
"Hitler paintings sold at British auction house". Deutsche Welle. 24 April 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
"Hitler Painting Sold At Auction". NDJ World. 29 January 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2014.