Museumuferfest and Degenerate Art

At the start of September, Frankfurt celebrates it´s museums during the MuseumUferfest. By a twist of fate, I happened to be there two years in a row. People pack the banks of the Main, thronging around food stalls, bands. (I discovered one traditional sounding oompah band... but sadly they finished as I soon as I found them)

With my boss Stefan I drink traditional Apfelwein, wander through the museums (This year I learnt that you can pay 5 euro to see all the museums during the festival) see strange performance art, watch a tubby man in a tuxedo totally wig out to African drumming outside the Museum of World Culture. There was a theme this year of ´Turkey: where the west meets the east´, but everything only very loosely revolved around that.

In the Städel Museum we pay our obligatory respects to Goethe, the most famous former resident of Frankfurt, depicted lounging in Campagna by Tischbein. (See picture below)

(public domain)

More moving for me was learning that during the rise of the Third Reich, Hitler condemmed basically all modern art as ´decadent´and ´degenerate´, destroying and holding public mockings of works by everyone from Wassily Kandinsky to Oskar Kokoshca, to a favourite of mine, Franz Marc. The Städel´s modern works were not spared, and it´s present strong collection of German Expressionism is due to a careful reaquisitions.

Liegender Hund im Schnee - Franz Marc (public domain)

For the final fireworks over the Main, lights along the river are turned off, and the sound-clash of public music dies away. Fireworks explode, reflected on the river and the huge glass towers of this town, sychronised with the ululating song of a famous Turkish pop singer.

It´s a pity Frankfurt aint always like this!