The Nazi authorities banned Sternheim's work not only because of his partial Jewish descent but also because of his savage comedic assaults on the perceived moral corruption of the German bourgeoisie.

An early admirer of Vincent Van Gogh,[6] in 1912 he lent several paintings from his collection to the International Art Exhibition in Cologne known as the 1912 Sonderbund.

The Van Goghs lent by Sternheim included "Still life with coffee pot, dishes and fruit", "Street in Saintes-Maries", and "L'Arlésienne", and "Entrance to the Public Park in Arles".

[8] Academics have also argued that Sternheim's works are sometimes hard to sell to the market in foreign languages due to the difficulty in categorising his style as belonging to any one specific movement.

One notable exception occurred when Simon Callow made his West End debut in a version of Bürger Schippel (re-titled as The Plumber's Progress) alongside Harry Secombe in the 1970s.

[11] In December 2018, a new adaptation of three of the short plays from Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben by David Ives premiered at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.[12] The Panties, The Partner, and The Profit were adapted from Die Hose, Der Snob and 1913, and produced with the subtitle Scenes From the Heroic Life of the Middle Class.