The Florentine ‘Mostra d’Arte Germanica’ of 1933: Exhibiting the Art of Nazi Germany in Fascist Italy

The Mostra d’Arte Germanica (Exhibition of German Art), a show of more than 300 paintings, sculptures, drawings, etchings, and medals by German artists aligned with Nazism, opened in Florence in November 1933. Although it was open for just over a month, the Mostra was the very first international showcase of the art of Nazi Germany, even if it opened at a moment when relations between Hitler and Mussolini were still warming. As I will argue in this article, the Mostra catalyzed Italian-German debates around the involvement of artists within the totalitarian state, and how art should articulate national, racial, and political identity. By exploring this little-studied exhibition and its ideological ramifications, I will show that the Nazi-Fascist political and diplomatic dialogue was crucial for the development of Fascist and Nazi art, and that contemporary art played a key role as a form of ‘soft’ diplomacy between these two regimes.