Goering's Art Collection Cataloged

As many of know, the Nazi's were large collectors of stolen and looted art. Herman Goering, Hitler's number two was also a collector of art and competed with Hitler for the best available stolen and looted art. Catherine Hickley of Bloomberg writes an article on a new book, “Beyond the Dreams of Avarice: The Hermann Goering Collection,” by Nacny Yeade a provenance researcher at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The book is available through the publisher for $250.00 at http://www.goeringart.com/. The new book catalogs nearly 1,800 pieces of art which were collected/stolen by Goering. The article does state most of the art has found its way back to the families of the original owners.

The book states, and I have heard this before, that Goreing collected more for the sake of amassing a large collection rather than seeking true quality. In any event, Goering still had an assembled a large collection of looted and stolen art from invaded territories and countries. The book says he was particular found of nudes and Dutch old masters, but there was even a few impressionist paintings which the Nazi's deemed degenerate art.

Hickley states Among the art stolen from Jewish families like the Rothschilds and Goudstikkers were works by Joshua Reynolds, Paolo Uccello, Francois Boucher, Jean-Honore Fragonard and Anthony van Dyck. After his buyer, Walter Andreas Hofer, had selected the best, Goering would go to the Jeu de Paume in Paris to view the booty before it was shipped to Carinhall.

Yet he deluded himself that he wasn’t stealing. “During a war, everybody loots a little bit,” Goering said in the Nuremberg interviews with the psychiatrist. “None of my so- called looting was illegal.”

He also tried to make his plundering look like legitimate transactions, Yeide says. He asked dealers to send him bills he never paid or pretended works were on loan.

“A characteristic of his seems to be this disconnect between his actions and his statements,” she says. “That does seem to be part of his nature -- denial.”

Hitler’s Gift The catalog features works that Hitler gave to Goering, including an official portrait of the Fuehrer and a watercolor Hitler painted himself. Hitler also gave him one of the best- known paintings in the collection, “The Beautiful Falconer” by Hans Makart.

Goering and Hitler competed for the best of the spoils seized from Jewish collectors. Hitler generally won, amassing a huge trove for the art museum he planned for the Austrian city where he grew up, Linz. He reportedly once said that while he collected for the German people, Goering collected only for himself, according to Yeide.

To read the full article, click HERE.