About the Exhibition
The artwork displayed here provides a glimpse into the treasures of Yad Vashem's Art Collection. These landscapes, cityscapes and views of daily life reveal the variety of styles, techniques and approaches of Jewish artists living in Europe prior to and during the Holocaust. Whether these artworks were created during peaceful times by Jewish men and women later murdered in the Holocaust, or were produced under Nazi persecution, they all convey the painters' artistic and aesthetic concerns. Some of the paintings and drawings allude to the cruel reality of life in the ghetto or concentration camp; others express the artists' longing to escape into the realm of beauty, yet all affirm the human creative impetus and love for life.
Yad Vashem's Art Collection is comprised of more than 12,000 works of art, most of which were created during the Holocaust. These drawings and paintings, born out of the individual's experience, provide a unique personal perspective of the Shoah. Each of these works is, in essence, an irreplaceable personal testimony of life during the Holocaust.