Is it possible for the arts to flourish under a strict authoritarian government?

Question

I mean, countries that have strict censorship and controls on people gathering in groups.

Answer 1

Depends on what you neam by flourish. It may make lots of money but creativity will be lost.

Answer 2

A lot of times the arts are used as a tool of government propaganda in strict authoritarian governments.  Classical music and ballet were used in the Soviet Union, for instance.  Hitler's Germany used drama (like The Merchant of Venice), opera (Wagner), folklore and even architecture to educate the people to their political agenda.

What is true, though, is that artists are often not free to say whatever they like in their works.  Authoritarians love to control every outlet for information and thought.

Answer 3

No it is not, at least in the modern age. It has been a hallmark of modern authoritarian regimes that they are led by people of pathetically bad taste.

Whether its the absurd heroic art favored by Hitler, the ludicrous "socialist realism" of the Russian communist regime or crude propaganda of "The East is Red" of the Maoists, the art of the modern dictators is usually garbage.

Indeed, radical right and left wing politics attracts second rate artists who find, in the paranoia these philosophies exhibit, an explanation for why their work is unappreciated by modern liberal democratic societies. (i.e. "If only the [capitalists/Jews/liberals/whatever] weren't corrupting society the masses would grasp the genius of my work")

When radical regimes do manage to seize power they invariably install these second rate types into positions of power with baleful results since they invariably set about persecuting everyone of real talent. Mao's wife, for example,  made it her life's work to destroy every critic, director or actor who had ever told her she had no talent.