Did you know?

That Adolf Hitler was an artist?

I kid you not. However, he was rejected by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (the Academy's controlled who would be big in the traditional art world). During the time he applied for entrance to the Academy was the Expressionist/Modernist movement in art. His paintings were too classical to be accepted.

The sad thing, because of his rejection by the art world he turned to politics. Well, the events he witnessed in World War I also helped too. We all know how his foray into politics turned out.

This rejection also led to another horrible act that he committed that you don't hear about...the burning of almost 5,000 pieces of modern or traditional artworks. (Almost like Fra Savonarola's Bonfire of the Vanities, horrible, tragic burning of tons of Renaissance paintings and writings in Florence's Piazza della Signoria.)

Just an interesting fact you don't hear about in history class.