Decorative Objects

Arno Breker is an artist supported by the Nazi regime and a German sculptor whose neoclassical works meet the military aesthetic of the regime. Breker was born on July 29, 1900, in Elberfeld, Germany and enrolled at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. He left his studies in 1924, moved to Paris and met avant-garde artists such as Jean Cocteau, Jean Renoir and Pablo Picasso. Over time, Breker rejects the influence of surrealism and cubism to pursue a more conservative aesthetic. He returns to Germany when the Nazi regime comes to power, praised by Adolf Hitler who describes his work as powerful and full of will. His sculptures often present the ideal figure of the Aryan man and are exhibited at the 1936 Olympic Games and the entrance of the Reich Chancellery. After the Second World War, his work was denounced as fascist and fell out of favor. However, there is renewed enthusiasm for his works at the opening of the Arno Breker Museum in Nörvenich, Germany, in 1985, later renamed the European Art Museum following numerous events. Breker died on February 13, 1991, in Düsseldorf, Germany.