Paintings, drawings from Adolf Hitler's time as a failed artist up for auction in Nuremberg

When the paintings and drawings go up on the auction block next week in Germany, collectors of macabre pieces of history and mediocre art will have the chance to buy one of 14 works created by a young Adolf Hitler from 1904 to 1922.

Some of the artwork is expected to bring in tens of thousands of euros, with a watercolor of Bavaria's famous Neuschwanstein Castle — likely made as an 80th birthday gift for the German industrialist Otto von Steinbeis — possibly fetching €45,000, or more than $50,000. Most are signed by "A. Hitler," who wanted to become an artist but was rejected twice by an art academy in Vienna after failing the entrance exam, causing him to go down a very different path once he entered politics.

Last year, one of Hitler's watercolors of a Munich town hall sold for €130,000 ($145,312) to an anonymous buyer in the Middle East, UK's The Telegraph reports. Because of his monstrous past, most buyers want to stay anonymous, and some auctions houses have canceled events due to worries about dealing with anything related to Hitler. In Germany, it is legal for his artwork to be sold, as long as it does not feature any swastikas or Nazi symbols.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up