Adolf Hitler’s paintings are pretty good.
Okay, they’re not mind-blowing, but they’re so much better than what I had expected after hearing all the stories about him being rejected from art school and starting a world war.
But it’s a bit more complicated than that. He failed the entry test for the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna but kept painting after his rejection — mostly small cards that he tried to sell.
I’m a fan of abstract art, but realistic paintings of buildings and landscapes are some of my favorites as well.
Let’s take a look at some of them and see for ourselves if they’re good.
Schloss Belvedere — Vienna, Austria

The fun thing about this painting is that I’ve seen the castle in real life and know what it looks like — it’s pretty good. It’s not hyper-realistic but you can get a good grasp of what you’re supposed to see.
Apart from that, the colors he used are really soft and calm you down while watching instead of being all over the place with bright colors like over-edited Instagram photos.
House on the Lakeside

Another cool looking painting with beautiful use of color.
Personally I love paintings of nature and this picture of a cabin at the lakeside surrounded by mountains just looks right.
There isn’t much known about the place where he based this on but I’d surely want to visit this location.
The Courtyard of the Old Residency — Munich, Germany

This doesn’t look like a painting made by Hitler, it’s not a picture of Vienna, nor is it based on a landscape — but it sure looks good. I like the purple touch it has and the way he created the bricks of the buildings.
Hitler was often praised for his sense of architecture and when he got rejected from the Art Academy, they recommended him to signup for the architecture academy.
Also, I think the fountain in the bottom left corner is really cute.
What’s your favorite Hitler painting?
Originally Published on Medium by me (Bryan Dijkhuizen)
Sources & References
- Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, May 23). Paintings by Adolf Hitler. Wikipedia. Retrieved May 24, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paintings_by_Adolf_Hitler
- Adolf Hitler — 20 artworks — painting. www.wikiart.org. (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2022, from https://www.wikiart.org/en/adolf-hitler