Hitler art goes under the hammer at Nuremberg

Mediocre paintings by German dictator drawn during his youth expected to sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars

A collection of paintings by Adolf Hitler is up for auction in Nuremberg, Germany, and is expected to sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, British media reported.

Sixteen pieces of art created by the German dictator in his youth will go under the hammer next week, according to The Times.

They include watercolors of towns, castles and countryside scenes, as well as several still lifes.

Last June, watercolor paintings and drawings by the Nazi leader were sold at auction in Germany for nearly €400,000 ($450,000).

The most expensive was a painting of King Ludwig II’s Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, now a tourist magnet, which went to a buyer from China for €100,000 ($108,000). A still life of carnations changed hands for €73,000 ($79,000).

Bidders included private investors from Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, France and Germany itself.

Illustrative: A painting, “The Courtyard of the Old Residency in Munich,” painted by a young Adolf Hitler, before he turned to politics. (Public Domain).

As a budding young painter, Hitler applied to the Vienna Academy of Art but was rejected. He continued to paint however, copying images from postcards that he sold to tourists.

Experts consider his work to be of mediocre quality.

Germany permits auction houses to sell the late Nazi leader’s paintings as long as they do not feature any banned symbols.

AFP contributed to this report.