Adolf Hitler was no Bob Ross. “Und vee put zee little tree here. Maybe ah little smoke from ze cabin in za voods.” Long before he built a totalitarian horror, he was a struggling artist in Vienna. He was rejected by the Academy of Fine Arts — first in 1907, and again in 1908. He eventually scraped together a living peddling local watercolor scenes, harboring deep grievances while convincing himself he was destined to reshape history.
He was hardly the only despot with a creative side. Benito Mussolini played the violin and recited poetry. Pol Pot studied the violin as a student in Paris. Saddam Hussein wrote romantic prose and political novels, while Mao Zedong turned out poetry throughout his entire political career. Apparently, the international tyrant poetry slam had a pretty strong lineup. Of course, if we widen the category of extracurricular activities, both Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un had a penchant for basketball — you know my boys like to go hard in the paint. A coffee-table book of tyrannical side projects would make for great reading. Oh, those whacky art house children.
