Sky Arte documentary revisits Nazi 'degenerate art' exhibition

A new documentary titled "La grande paura di Hitler. Processo all'arte degenerata" will air on Sky Arte on Monday, July 6 at 9:15 PM. Directed by Simona Risi, with a script by Didi Gnocchi, Sabina Fedeli, and Arianna Marelli, and narrated by Claudia Catani, the film revisits the 1937 "Entartete Kunst" (Degenerate Art) exhibition in Munich. Organized by Adolf Ziegler at the Institute of Archaeology in the Hofgarten, the Nazi regime displayed over 600 confiscated works to ridicule modern art. Artists targeted included Henri Matisse, Max Beckmann, Vincent van Gogh, Otto Dix, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, and Amedeo Modigliani. The documentary also covers a June 30, 1939 auction in Lucerne, Switzerland, where many denounced masterpieces were sold to the highest bidder, funding the Nazi regime. Produced by 3D Produzioni, the film draws on a recent exhibition at the Musée Picasso in Paris and features interviews with curators, scholars, and art historians. It questions whether art can be a threat and whether the fate of "degenerate" artists serves as a warning for freedom of expression.