This paper explores the cultural experience of the expressionist artists’ organization “Der Norden” , active in Germany in the first half of the thirties. Aim of the paper is to show how Joseph Goebbels exploited group’s desire for change,expressed through the journal “Kunst der Nation”, for his own political purposes. By seemingly supporting artists that partly challenged the cultural policy of the party, Goebbels could get hold of a larger consensus. Such a strategy was certainly made possible by the group’s ideological positions. While supporting innovation, “Der Norden” did not go beyond early twenty-century avant-garde. Their goal was to use expressionism as a starting point to build the figurative language of the new Nazi nation. Innovation, thus, I argue, meant nothing else than conservation. Key-words: Art in Nazi Germany; Avant-garde; Kunst der Nation; German Expressionism.