Adolf Hitler is widely regarded to have been one of the most despicable persons to have ever lived. He and the rest of the Nazi party used the power of the German government to commit some of the worst atrocities in human history. His early life was not nearly so ominous as one might expect, however. Before joining the army at the outbreak of World War I, he wanted nothing more than to be a famous artist. He did not spend his childhood plotting how he would kill the Jews. Rather, he spent it dreaming of gaining entrance into the Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna. It was largely his failure to achieve entrance into this academy that changed the course of his life forever.
The extent to which Hitler made art a part of his life, even after becoming Chancellor of Germany, but especially before joining the army, is surprising to many people. As a teenager and young man, he spent much of his time and money attending the opera (his favorites are those by Wagner). After becoming an orphan, he lived on his inheritance and his orphan's pension while "studying" for the entrance examination into the school of painting at the Academy in Vienna. Gaining entrance into the Academy seems to have been for Hitler less a life's goal than it was something he had took for granted.
It came as a complete shock to Hitler when he was not accepted into the Academy the first time he took the entrance examination in 1907, so he stayed in Vienna "studying" to take it again. He spent most of his time visiting museums, attending the opera, and gawking at the city's architecture, however. The next year when he again applied for admission, he was again rejected. Again, the reason was "unfitness for painting" although he was supposedly told that he had great talents in architecture. Although he pretended that he would study to obtain entrance into school of architecture, he lacked the educational experience he would have needed and seems to have made no serious effort to pursue a course of study in architecture. His fascination with architecture never failed him, however, and his favorite architect became one of his closest advisers while Hitler served as Chancellor.
Many people have heard that Hitler was a painter before the war, but many are confused as to what type of painting he did. Many people seem to assume that he worked as a house painter, but this is not so. After running out of money, Hitler found a partner and began producing paintings to sell for a living. He usually copied postcards or painted scenes of the city's architecture. By all evaluations, his work was mediocre at best. It was usually sold either to tourists or to merchants for to resell to innkeepers. He made very little from his painting and was barely able to scrape out a bare existence. As poor as he was at that time, however, it is interesting to note that Hitler did work as a professional artist for a time. It may not have been on the scale he wanted, but he was a professional artists nevertheless.
Of course, Hitler's work was in hot demand during his time in power. Loyal Nazis paid vast sums of money to purchase anything that he had produced and counterfeits became quite common. After all, they were of such low artistic merit that almost anyone could reproduce them. Even today, his art continues in high demand and simple watercolors can fetch several thousands of dollars at action. Understandably, many action houses are reluctant to handle the paintings because of the atrocities he committed during and before World War II.
How different history might have been if Hitler had only been allowed to attend the Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna. If he had only practiced a little more or found admission at another academy, the most destructive war in the history of the world might have been avoided. It was not until being twice rejected as an artist that he eventually joined the army and found his way into politics. Perhaps someone similar would have arisen to take his place if Hitler had failed to become the leader of the Nazi party, but history would certainly have turned out much differently. Little did the review board at that prestigious academy know that the history of the world was in their hands on those two fateful days!
