#Second World War

Emil Nolde, Still Life. Watercolor on paper. Alan Klinkhoff Gallery. Artist Stories

Emil Nolde: The Colors of a Controversial Artist

Emil Nolde, German-Danish painter and printmaker, was a pioneering figure in Expressionism who shaped the movement and inspired countless other...

Errika Gerakiti, 6 May 2026

Theater & Cinema

The Empire’s Visual Language: A History of Star Wars Propaganda Art

Few franchises have looked history this directly in the face. George Lucas did not invent the Galactic Empire’s visual identity from scratch.

Errika Gerakiti 4 May 2026

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Le Quai Malaquais et l’Institut by Camille Pissarro

An Impressionist masterpiece—looted by the Nazis, hidden for decades in a vault in a Swiss bank, subject of a controversial restitution, and linked...

Javier Abel Miguel 19 April 2026

Göring and Lohse studying a book on Rembrandt.Credit. Photo: Archives des Musées Nationaux History

Bruno Lohse—Art Dealer of the Third Reich

In 2007, the Zurich prosecutor’s office opened vault number 5 of the Zürcher Kantonalbank. But something felt off; the vault was huge, more like a...

Javier Abel Miguel 23 February 2026

Review

Plunder and Survival: Suzanne Loebl’s Account of Nazi Art Looting

Written by Holocaust survivor Suzanne Loebl with Abigail Wilentz, Plunder and Survival (Bloomsbury, 2025) traces the Nazi looting of art across...

Javier Abel Miguel 16 February 2026

History

5 Artists Flirting with Nazis

When it comes to art and Nazis, attention often goes to those artists persecuted as creators of so-called “Degenerate Art” or robbed of their...

Jimena Escoto 5 February 2026

History

The Schloss Collection: A Story of War, Looting, and Restitution

Among the many artistic depredations that devastated France under Nazi rule, the looting of the Schloss collection came to be seen as a defining...

Javier Abel Miguel 4 February 2026

Varian Fry at his desk. RBML. Surrealism

The Artist Schindler’s List: How Varian Fry Rescued Artists from Burning Europe

At the outbreak of World War II, Varian Fry, a US journalist, volunteered to travel to Marseille to assist in the repatriation of Europe’s...

Javier Abel Miguel 4 February 2026

History

10 Most Important Masterpieces Lost During World War II

Art theft and looting occurred on a massive scale during World War II. It all started with Adolf Hitler’s unsuccessful career as an artist. He was...

Zuzanna Stańska 4 February 2026

Museum Stories

The Story of Hitler’s Unrealized Art Museum in Linz

The Hitler’s Museum – originally in German called Das Führermuseum, was luckily an unrealized art museum within a cultural complex planned by...

Zuzanna Stańska 4 February 2026

Adolf Hitler and the Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, visit the Degenerate Art exhibition on July 16, 1937. Photo: Bundesarchiv. History

The Degenerate Art Exhibition: How the Nazis Tried to Destroy Modern Art

In 1937, the Nazi regime organized an exhibition in Munich that marked one of the darkest chapters in art history: the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate...

Javier Abel Miguel 22 January 2026

WTF Art History

Hitler’s Four Least Favorite Degenerate Artists

As a person who considered himself an artist, Hitler was very sensitive to aesthetics. He hated people who did not fit into his imagined world of...

Magda Michalska 22 January 2026