The collection of works from classical modernism at Kunstmuseum Basel is among the most famous of its kind. Yet it was assembled comparatively late. In the summer of 1939 — shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War — the museum’s then director, Georg Schmidt (1896–1966), succeeded in acquiring 21 masterpieces. In 1937, as part of National Socialist cultural policy, these works had been defamed as “degenerate” and forcibly removed from German museums. The Reich Ministry of Propaganda assumed that some of the works could be sold abroad for foreign currency. Selected artworks deemed “internationally marketable” therefore reached the market through various channels. The exhibition *Castaway Modernism* sheds light on this important moment in the history of the Basel collection in all its facets. It also addresses the artificial fragmentation of modern art caused by the violent cultural policy of the Nazi regime. To this day, the selection into “marketable” art and art otherwise consigned to oblivion or destruction continues to affect museum collections around the world. Combining art-historical and historical perspectives, the exhibition conveys unexpected stories of people, artworks, and trade.
