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London artists exhibit defaced Hitler paintings

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London artists exhibit defaced Hitler paintings
Another Chapman artwork with Nazis: 'Hell' Photo: DPA

British sibling artist duo Jake and Dinos Chapman have defaced a series of Adolf Hitler’s water colour paintings for their new exhibition entitled “If Hitler Had Been a Hippy How Happy Would We Be.”

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The exhibition, which opened last week at the White Cube gallery in London and runs until July 12, features 13 of Hitler’s works with psychedelic images like rainbows, hearts, and stars, to represent what the artists imagine the world would be like if Hitler had been accepted into the Vienna art school, UK daily The Independent reported on Friday.

The brothers controversially bought a number of landscape paintings by Hitler for £115,000, and plan to sell their versions as a single work for some £685,000, the paper reported.

“The idea of redeeming Hitler is bad, the idea of redeeming his work is a staggering work of genius," Jake Chapman told the paper, adding that he hoped the defacement of the works would have the “bland” artist Hitler “spinning” in his grave.

The White Cube gallery told the paper it would carefully screen potential buyers to rule out Nazi sympathizers.

Part of the exhibition includes a new version of a swastika-shaped sculpture with miniature Nazis committing horrific acts, called “Hell,” that burned in a 2004 fire. The new installation, is entitled “Fucking Hell,” and sold for £7.5 million, The Independent reported.

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