In 1937, the National Socialist government organized a massive traveling exhibition of so-called Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art). The works included in this exhibition, many of which had been seized from museums and private collections, were condemned by the Nazis for failing to adequately venerate the German state and help restore the pride of a romantic past. Many of the artists whose works were included—such as Max Beckmann (German, 1884–1950), George Grosz (German, 1893–1959), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German, 1880–1938), Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879–1940), Oskar Kokoschka (German, 1886–1980), and Emil Nolde (German, 1867–1956)—are now recognized as modern masters.

In 1939, leaders in British politics and the arts organized an exhibition that featured many of the same artists included in Entartete Kunst. The British exhibition, which traveled to the Albright Art Gallery later in the year, was designed as a neutral counterpoint to the blatantly politically motivated German exhibition and an opportunity for viewers to judge independently the aesthetic merits of these controversial artists.