Raju: Chapmans Hippify Hitler

Jake and Dinos Chapman have never shied away from controversy, but their new work may raise the shock-art bar. The brothers bought 13 watercolors by Adolf Hitler, on which they have painted rainbows, stars, and hearts. The originals were purchased for more than $226,000 and are now priced as one piece — If Hitler Had Been a Hippy How Happy Would We Be — at approximately $1,349,000. In a typically Chapman-esque statement, Jake said: "The idea of redeeming Hitler is bad; the idea of redeeming his work is a staggering work of genius." One commentator called the work "puerile," though such criticism is unlikely to deter the brothers from their other ongoing projects, including a proposed film. In a related story, an Albert Speer-designed Berlin bunker has become a private museum for contemporary art.