Editing Neoclassicism (section)

===Neoclassicism and Totalitarian regimes===
{{Main|Socialist Realism|Nazi architecture|Rationalism (architecture)}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
Moscow RussianStateLibrary 0987.jpg|[[Socialist Realism|Socialist Realist]] - [[Russian State Library|Lenin State Library]], Moscow, Russia, by [[Vladimir Shchuko]] and [[Vladimir Helfreich]], 1928-1941<ref>{{cite book|last1=Watkin|first1=David|title=A History of Western Architecture|date=2022|publisher=Laurence King|isbn=978-1-52942-030-2|page=880|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Бродский Собрание Реввоенсовета.jpg|Socialist Realist - ''Assembly of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, Chaired by Kliment Voroshilov''; by [[Isaak Brodsky]]; 1929; oil on canvas; 95.5 x 129.5&nbsp;cm; private collection<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dempsey|first1=Amy|title=Modern Art|date=2018|publisher=Thamed & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-29322-5|page=93|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Bucuresti, Romania, Facultatea de Drept, UNIVRSITATEA Bucuresti, B-II-m-A-19003.JPG|Fascist - University Rectorate and Law Faculty Building in [[Bucharest]] ([[Bulevardul Mihail Kogălniceanu]] no. 36–46), [[Bucharest]], Romania, by [[Petre Antonescu]], 1933-1935{{sfn|Celac|Carabela|Marcu-Lapadat|2017|p=72}}
Voorzijde van het Duitse paviljoen met een beeldengroep van Josef Thorak, Bestanddeelnr 254-2672.jpg|Nazi - ''Familie'' (The Family); by [[Josef Thorak]]; {{circa}}1937; probably bronze; unknown dimensions; exhibited at the [[Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne|1937 Paris World Fair]]
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R89708, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei.jpg|Nazi - [[Reich Chancellery#New Reich Chancellery|New Reich Chancellery]], Berlin, by [[Albert Speer]], 1938-1939{{sfn|Hopkins|2014|p=175}}
Palazzo della civiltà del lavoro (EUR, Rome) (5904657870).jpg|Fascist - [[Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana]], Rome, by [[Giovanni Guerrini]], [[Ernesto La Padula]], and [[Mario Romano]], 1939-1942{{sfn|Hopkins|2014|p=176}}
Moscow State University crop.jpg|Socialist Realist - [[Moscow State University|Lomonosov University]], Moscow, by [[Lev Rudnev]], 1947-1952{{sfn|Hopkins|2014|p=176}}
60-62 Șoseaua Panduri, Bucharest (01).jpg|Socialist Realist - Colonels' Quarter ([[Șoseaua Panduri]] no. 60–62), Bucharest, by I.Novițchi, C.Ionescu, C.Hacker and A.Șerbescu, 1950–1960{{sfn|Celac|Carabela|Marcu-Lapadat|2017|p=181}}
Omagiu, by Constantin Nitescu, circa 1980.jpg|Socialist Realist - ''Homage''; by Constantin Nitescu; {{circa}}1980; unknown technique; unknown dimensions; Romania
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In [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]], [[Nazi Germany]], Romania under the rule of [[Carol II of Romania|Carol II]] and the [[Soviet Union]], during the 1920s and 1930s, totalitarian regimes chose Neoclassicism for state buildings and art. Architecture was central to totalitarian regimes' expression of their permanence (despite their obvious novelty). The way totalitarian regimes drew from Classicism took many forms. When it comes to state buildings in Italy and Romania, architects attempted to fuse a modern sensibility with abstract classical forms. Two good examples of this are the [[Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana]] in Rome, and the University Rectorate and Law Faculty Building in [[Bucharest]] ([[Bulevardul Mihail Kogălniceanu]] no. 36–46). In contrast, the Classicism of the [[Soviet Union]], known as [[Socialist Realism]], was bombastic, overloaded with ornaments and architectural sculptures, as an attempt to be in contrast with the simplicity of 'Capitalist' or 'bourgeois' styles like [[Art Deco]] or [[Modern architecture|Modernism]]. The [[Moscow State University|Lomonosov University]] in Moscow is a good example of this. [[Nikita Khrushchev]], the Soviet leader that succeeded Stalin, did not like this pompous Socialist Realist architecture from the reign of his predecessor. Because of the low speed and cost of these Neoclassical buildings, he stated that 'they spent people's money on beauty that no one needs, instead of building simpler, but more'.

In the Soviet Union, Neoclassicism was embraced as a rejection of [[Art Deco]] and Modernism, which the Communists saw as being too 'bourgeois' and 'capitalist'. This Communist Neoclassical style is known as Socialist Realism, and it was popular during the reign of Joseph Stalin (1924–1953). In [[fine art]]. Generally, it manifested through deeply idealized representations of wiry workers, shown as heroes in collective farms or industrialized cities, political assemblies, achievements of Soviet technology, and through depictions happy children staying around [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] or Stalin. Both subject matter and representation were carefully monitored. Artistic merit was determined by the degree to which a work contributed to the building of socialism. All artists had to join the state-controlled Union of Soviet Artists and produce work in the accepted style. The three guiding principles of Socialist Realism were party loyalty, presentation of correct ideology and accessibility. Realism, more easily understood by the masses, was the style of choice. At the beginning, in the Soviet Union, multiple competing  [[avant-garde]] movements were present, notably [[Constructivism (art)|Constructivism]]. However, as Stalin consolidated his power towards the end of the 1920s, avant-garde art and architecture were suppressed and eventually outlawed and official state styles were established. After [[Boris Iofan]] won the competition for the design of the [[Palace of the Soviets]] with a stepped classical tower, surmounted by a giant statue of Lenin, architecture soon reverted to pre-Revolutionary styles of art and architecture, untainted by Constructivism's perceived Western influence.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dempsey|first1=Amy|title=Modern Art|date=2018|publisher=Thamed & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-29322-5|pages=92, 93|url=|language=en}}</ref> Although Socialist Realism in architecture ended more or less with the death of Stalin and the rise of Nikita Khrushchev, paintings in this style continued to be produced, especially in countries where there was a strong [[personality cult]] of the leader in power, like in the case of [[Mao Zedong]]'s [[History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)|China]], [[Kim Il Sung]]'s [[North Korea]], or [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]'s Romania.

The Nazis suppressed Germany's vibrant [[avant-garde]] culture once they gained control of the government in 1933. [[Albert Speer]] was set as [[Adolf Hitler]]'s architectural advisor in 1934, and he tried to create an architecture that would both reflect the perceived unity of the German people and act as backdrop to the Nazis' expressions of power. The Nazis' approach to architecture was riddled with contradictions: while Hitler and Speer's plans for reordering Berlin aspired to imitate imperial Rome, in rural contexts Nazi buildings took inspiration from [[Vernacular architecture|local vernaculars]], trying to channel an 'authentic' German spirit. When it come to fine art, the Nazis created the term '[[Degenerate art]]' for [[Modern art]], a kind of art which to them was 'un-German', 'Jewish' or 'Communist'. The Nazis hated modern art and linked it to '[[Cultural Bolshevism]]', the [[conspiracy theory]] that art (or culture broadly) was controlled by a leftist Jewish cabal seeking to destroy the aryan race. Hitler's war on Modern art mostly consisted of an exhibition that tried to discredit Modern artists, called the '[[Degenerate Art exhibition]]' ({{langx|de|Die Ausstellung "Entartete Kunst"}}). This exhibition was displayed next to the [[Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung|Great Exhibition of German Art]], which consisted of artworks that the Nazis approved of. This way, the visitors of both exhibitions could compare the art labeled by the regime as 'good' and 'bad'. With a similar atitude, the regime closed in 1931 the [[Bauhaus]], an avant-garde art school in [[Dessau]] that was extremely influential post-war. It reopened in Berlin in 1932, but was closed again in 1933.

Compared to Germany and the Soviet Union, in Italy the avant-garde contributed to state architecture. Classical architecture was also an influence, echoing [[Benito Mussolini]]'s far cruder attempts to create links between his Fascist regime and [[ancient Rome]]. Some Italian architects tried to create fusions between [[Modern architecture|Modernism]] and [[Classical architecture|Classicism]], like [[Marcello Piacentini]] with the [[Sapienza University of Rome]], or [[Giuseppe Terragni]] with [[Casa del Fascio (Como)|Casa del Fascio]] in [[Como]].{{sfn|Hopkins|2014|p=174, 175, 176}}

In Romania, towards the late 1930s, influenced by the Autocratic tendency of King [[Carol II of Romania|Carol II]], multiple state buildings were erected. They were Neoclassical, many very similar with what was popular in the same years in Fascist Italy. Examples in [[Bucharest]] include the University Rectorate and Law Faculty Building ([[Bulevardul Mihail Kogălniceanu]] no. 36–46), the Kretzulescu Apartment Building ([[Calea Victoriei]] no. 45), the CFR Building (Bulevardul Dinicu Golescu no. 38) or the [[Victoria Palace]] ([[Victory Square, Bucharest|Piața Victoriei]] no. 1). The [[Royal Palace of Bucharest|Royal Palace]], whose interiors are mostly done in a neo-[[Adam style]], stands out by being more decorated, a little closer to the architecture before World War I.