the degenerate art exhibition () was an art exhibition organized by adolf ziegler and the nazi party in munich from 19 july to 30 november 1937. the exhibition presented 650 works of art, confiscated from german museums, and was staged in counterpoint to the concurrent great german art exhibition. the day before the exhibition started, hitler delivered a speech declaring "merciless war" on cultural disintegration, attacking "chatterboxes, dilettantes and art swindlers". degenerate art was defined as works that "insult german feeling, or destroy or confuse natural form or simply reveal an absence of adequate manual and artistic skill". one million people attended the exhibition in its first six weeks. a u.s. critic commented "there are probably plenty of people—art lovers—in boston, who will side with hitler in this particular purge".