Painting by Hitler goes to auction

A still-life watercolor painting of flowers by a young Adolf Hitler will be sold at auction in Los Angeles this week, organisers have announced.

The 1912 canvas, painted by the future Nazi leader when he was a struggling artist in his mid-20s, is going under the hammer at the Nate D Sanders auction house on Thursday.

Hitler moved to Vienna as a young man to try to make it as an artist. A Jewish art dealer, Samuel Morgenstern, believed in his talent and sold several Hitler paintings to wealthy Viennese Jewish clients beginning in 1911.

When Hitler swept to power as an anti-semitic Nazi leader in the 1930s, his forces seized Morgenstern’s gallery and deported the owner to the Lodz Ghetto, where he died in 1943, according to the Los Angeles auctioneers.

The painting shows a blue ceramic pitcher holding orange, red and soft pink flowers – an unusual subject at a time when Hitler was focusing more on landscapes and architecture.

Bidding for the canvas will start at $30,000 (£20,000). It measures 34.3cm by 27.3cm (13.5in by 10.75in).