Paul Mathias Padua, Der Führer Spricht

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				Price: on request

Description

‘Der Führer Spricht’ (‘The Leader Speaks’)
Biography: Paul Mathias Padua

Displayed at the ‘Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung’, 1940

Extreme scarce work of art
Art works considered as overt propaganda were massively destroyed
As described below, in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement of August 1945, the Allied Control Council laws and military government regulations, all collections of works of art related or dedicated to the perpetuation of German militarism or Nazism, were destroyed. Thousands of paintings were considered of ‘no value’ and burned. Around 8,722 artworks were shipped to military deposits in the U.S. In 1986 the largest part was returned to Germany, with the exception of 200 paintings which were considered as overt propaganda: depictions of German Soldiers, war sceneries, swastika’s and portraits of Nazi leaders.

This painting hung in the Great German Art Exhibition 1940, in room 15.
It depicts a farm family listening to a speech from Hitler. At the right we see the radio, and at the back a picture of Der Führer. Hitler was in their room, both vocally and visually. There is a quasi-religious sphere and the people, after a long working day, are calm and trusting and seem to feel secure and protected. We also see that a simple farm family under the National Socialists regime can afford to own modern technology (radio) and thereby share and enjoy the mass meetings of the NSDAP. The painting was commissioned by the ‘Intendant des Reichsrundfunks’.

Also displayed under the name ‘Le Führer parle’ at the exhibition ‘Le IIIe Reich et la Musique’ in the Musée de la Musique, Paris, October 2004 – January 2005.

‘Der Führer Spricht’ by Padua, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden‘, 28 July 1940. The text at the right reads: ‘Art , the eternal expression of German Life’

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