Before Adolf Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party, he was a simple painter who sold watercolors of Vienna's sights. Unfortunately, he didn't make it to art school due to his work being seen as mediocre. Nowadays, even the most mediocre of paintings can fetch a high price— especially if the artist also happens to be one of history's most reviled men.
Watercolor paintings and drawings by Hitler were sold at an auction in Germany over the weekend for almost $450,000 (400,000 euros).
Fourteen pieces in total were sold, according to the New York Times, with the most expensive one, depicting King Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, going for over $113,000 (100,000 euros) to a buyer from China.
The paintings, dated from 1904 to 1922 and mostly signed A.Hitler, according to the Daily Mail, were auctioned by Nuremberg-based Weidler to bidders from around the world, including Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, France and Germany. The auction house declined to identify individual buyers.
The collectors are noted for not being specialized "in works by this particular painter but rather have a general interest in high-value art," auctioneer Kathrin Weidler told German news agency DPA, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Germany permits auction houses to sell the late Nazi leader's paintings as long as they don't feature any banned symbols.
