The Gallery of Miracles and Madness

Insanity, Modernism, and Hitler's War on Art

By: Charlie English

Narrated by: Enn Reitel

The untold story of Hitler’s war on “degenerate” artists and the mentally ill that served as a model for the “Final Solution.”
 
“A penetrating chronicle . . . deftly links art history, psychiatry, and Hitler’s ideology to devastating effect.”—The Wall Street Journal

As a veteran of the First World War, and an expert in art history and medicine, Hans Prinzhorn was uniquely placed to explore the connection between art and madness. The work he collected—ranging from expressive paintings to life-size rag dolls and fragile sculptures made from chewed bread—contained a raw, emotional power, and the book he published about the material inspired a new generation of modern artists, Max Ernst, André Breton, and Salvador Dalí among them. By the mid-1930s, however, Prinzhorn’s collection had begun to attract the attention of a far more sinister group. 

Modernism was in full swing when Adolf Hitler arrived in Vienna in 1907, hoping to forge a career as a painter. Rejected from art school, this troubled young man became convinced that modern art was degrading the Aryan soul, and once he had risen to power he ordered that modern works be seized and publicly shamed in “degenerate art” exhibitions, which became wildly popular. But this culture war was a mere curtain-raiser for Hitler’s next campaign, against allegedly “degenerate” humans, and Prinzhorn’s artist-patients were caught up in both. By 1941, the Nazis had murdered 70,000 psychiatric patients in killing centers that would serve as prototypes for the death camps of the Final Solution. Dozens of Prinzhorn artists were among the victims. 

The Gallery of Miracles and Madness is a spellbinding, emotionally resonant tale of this complex and troubling history that uncovers Hitler’s wars on modern art and the mentally ill and how they paved the way for the Holocaust. Charlie English tells an eerie story of genius, madness, and dehumanization that offers readers a fresh perspective on the brutal ideology of the Nazi regime.

Critic reviews

“English takes us through uncharted artistic waters in a narrative of great humanity: a gripping journey into art, madness and modern history.”—Jonathan Jones, art critic, The Guardian

“Dazzling . . . The Gallery of Miracles and Madness explores a little-known chapter of World War II—the story of psychiatric art and the rise of the Third Reich. This poignant narrative centers on the complicated psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn and the eccentric patient artists whose work helped usher in a new epoch of the modernist avant-garde only to become fodder for Hitler's hateful ideology of 'degeneration.’ Richly wrought and deeply researched, it’s also a salient reminder to beware of pseudoscience.”—Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire and The Great Pretender

“A riveting tale, brilliantly told.”—Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

“In this fascinating account, journalist English (Book Smugglers of Timbuktu) unpacks Hitler’s mad campaign against mentally ill artists. . . . In musing on the definition of art, limitations of clinical psychology, and the rise of fascism, English’s story feels strikingly relevant. While shedding new light on this piece of history, English also provides a cautionary tale for the future.”—Publishers Weekly

Outstanding material presented well

This is simultaneously one of the best books I’ve read about art and one of the best books I’ve read about Hitler and the Nazi program. Extremely well narrated too

A grim story, well researched

In the 1920s, German psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn curated a collection of artworks made by psychiatric patients, many of them schizophrenic. These pieces were powerful and spontaneous, often delving into the untamed, mysterious depths of the subconscious. A book showcasing the Prinzhorn Collection became a massive hit among artists, particularly Expressionists and Surrealists, and had a serious influence on Modernism and Western Art. In the 1940s, French artist Jean Dubuffet coined the term Art Brut (or "raw art") to describe this type of untrained, unpolished, and uncompromising work.

Not everyone was a fan. Adolf Hitler, an artist himself, viewed it as degenerate, and was appalled by prominent contemporary artists' embrace of it. He considered it a symptom of cultural decay that demanded correction at any cost. Upon assuming power In the 1930s, Hitler initiated a clandestine program to systematically exterminate thousands of psychiatric patients, including many whose works were featured in the Prinzhorn Collection. The goal was to remove what he perceived as impurities in the German population and culture. Over time, the criteria for extermination broadened, resulting in hundreds of thousands of murders. That this campaign, an open secret, was met with such little public resistance emboldened Hitler to pursue genocide on an even larger scale.

Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, devised a plan to scorn and ridicule not only the Prinzhorn Collection, but also the work of established Modernists, which was antithesis to the conservative Nazi aesthetic. The Degenerate Art Exhibition took place in 1937 and was attended by one million people during in its first six weeks.