Weimar Republic and National Socialism

Only in the 1920s did those responsible in the museum beginn to systematically acquire works of fine art. In addition to paintings, primarily prints and drawings were purchased. From 1926 on, the museum also acquired modern art. In the same year, the first catalog of the Graphic Arts Collection was published.

During National Socialism, the mpk, like other museums, was brought into line with Nazi cultural policy. Director Hermann Graf and head of collections Edmund Hausen had already joined the NSDAP in 1933. The exhibitions they organized during the Nazi era served the propagandist aims of the Nazi regime. During the “Degenerate Art” campaign in 1938, around 80 works that did not correspond to the rulers’ view of art were confiscated. Only artists who were considered exemplary, for example through the “Great German Art Exhibition” in Munich, were purchased.