On July 18, 1937, the Degenerate Art Exhibition opened in Munich. It was a triumphant platform for Adolf Hitler, who was working to purge modern art and its ‘ruinous and fatal’ influences from German society, and he had a full gallery dedicated to mocking and berating the art and artists who were responsible.

In the two years that followed, over 23,000 artworks were removed from German state collections by the regime, many of which were sold to American collectors and institutions.

After the war, the U.S. government made a controversial decision not to return the looted art to German museums. As is evident from the current discourse around the subject, this policy remains both controversial and relevant today.

In this lecture, world-renowned author and leading expert Jonathan Petropoulos will tell the story of the Nazis’ theft of European art and provide insights about the current restitution landscape.