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RESEARCH PRODUCT

De Napoléon à Hitler : les enjeux d’un pillage artistique de l’Europe

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The conquest of Europe, first by Napoleon and then by Hitler, was accompanied by the systematic plunder of artistic works. This tactic was in keeping with the logic of classical warfare, aiming, in other words, to humiliate the vanquished and exalt the victors. Recent publications enable us to investigate this phenomenon anew. Art is undeniably at the heart of the symbolic systems of authoritarian states, and the artistic choices are very revealing as to the nature of those regimes. When the conflict is over, the restitution of the plundered works of art gives rise to important questions in the ransacked countries, leading to a reflection on their own heritage and therefore on their identity as regards their adversary’s standpoint.