The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an
art museum
An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...
in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the
Museumsufer
Museumsufer (Museum Embankment) is the name of a landscape of museums in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany, lined up on both banks of the river Main or in close vicinity. The centre is the art museum Städel. The other museums were added, partly by tran ...
on the
Sachsenhausen bank of the
River Main
The Main () is the longest tributary of the Rhine, one of the major European rivers. It rises as the White Main in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim, ...
. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 photographs and more than 100,000 drawings and prints.
It has around of display and a library of 115,000 books.
In 2012, the Städel was honoured as by the German art critics association
AICA.
In the same year the museum recorded the highest attendance figures in its history, of 447,395 visitors. In 2020 the museum had 318,732 visitors, down 45 percent from 2019, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. It ranked 71st on the
list of most-visited art museums
A primary source for 2024 figures is the Art Newspaper whose most recent annual survey was published in March 2025. Other major sources included the newsroom of the Smithsonian Institution, the French Ministry of Culture, and the Association of ...
in 2020.
History
19th century
The Städel was founded in 1817,
and is one of the oldest museums in Frankfurt. The founding followed a bequest by the Frankfurt banker and art patron
Johann Friedrich Städel
Johann Friedrich Städel (1728–1816) was a German banker and patron of the arts. He founded the Städel Art Institute in his will, donating his entire fortune, art collection and house to the institute.
Life
Städel was born to Johann Dani ...
(1728–1816), who left his house, art collection and fortune with the request in his will that the institute be set up.
In the early years, Städel's former living quarters at Frankfurt's were used to present his collection.
The collection received its first exhibition building at the in 1833.
19th century building
In 1878, a new museum building, in the
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...
style,
was erected by on
Schaumainkai, a street along the south side of the river
Main
Main may refer to:
Geography
*Main River (disambiguation), multiple rivers with the same name
*Ma'in, an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen
* Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province
*Spanish Main, the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territ ...
.
Städelsches Kunstinstitut Frankfurt plan.jpg, Floor plan, 1894
20th century
In 1937, 77 paintings and 700 prints were confiscated from the museum when the
National Socialists
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
declared them "
degenerate art".
In 1939, the collection of the Städel Museum was removed to avoid destruction from the Allied bombings, and the collection was stored in the
Schloss Rossbach, a castle owned by the Baron Thüngen near
Bad Brückenau
Bad Brückenau () is a Hot spring, spa town in Bad Kissingen (district), Bad Kissingen district in northwestern Bavaria in the Rhön Mountains.
Geography
Bad Brückenau is in the tree-lined River Sinn, Sinn valley, in the western Rhön Mountains ...
in Bavaria. There, the museum's paintings and library were discovered by Lt.
Thomas Carr Howe
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
, USN, of the American
Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program.
Renovations and extensions
The gallery was substantially damaged by
air raids in World War II, it was rebuilt in 1966 following a design by the Frankfurt architect
Johannes Krahn
Johannes Krahn (17 May 1908 – 17 October 1974) was a German architect and an academic teacher.
Career
Born in Mainz, Johannes Krahn studied architecture from 1923 to 1927 at the Technische Lehranstalten Offenbach. He continued his studies 19 ...
.
An expansion building for the display of 20th-century work and special exhibits was erected in 1990, designed by the Austrian architect
Gustav Peichl
Gustav Peichl (18 March 1928 – 17 November 2019) was an Austrian architect and caricaturist.
Life
He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna until 1953 and worked in the office of Roland Rainer. To pay for architectural school, he drew ...
.
Small structural changes and renovations took place from 1997 to 1999.
The largest extension in the history of the museum to intended for the presentation of contemporary art was designed by the Frankfurt architectural firm and opened in February 2012.
Digital expansion
The Städel has been significantly enlarging its activities and outreach through a major digital expansion on the occasion of its 200-year anniversary in 2015.
Already available to visitors is an exhibition 'digitorial' and free access to WiFi throughout the museum and its grounds. The museum offers to visitors a Städel app, the possibility of listening to audio guides on their own devices, and a new 'cabinet of digital curiosities'. Several more projects are currently in development including an online exhibition platform; educational computer games for children; online art-history courses and a digital art book.
Creative commons
The Städel Museum made more than 22,000 works in its ''Digital Collection'' available for free downloading under the
Creative Commons licence
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bui ...
CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collection
The Städel has European paintings from seven centuries, beginning with the early 14th century, moving into
Late Gothic, the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
,
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
, and into the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
The large collection of prints and drawings is not on permanent display and occupies the first floor of the museum. Works on paper not on display can be viewed by appointment.
The gallery has a conservation department that performs conservation and restoration work on the collection.
Temporary exhibitions
Most visited exhibitions:
* "Making
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...
" 2019/2020 (505,750 visitors)
* "
Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
und die Geburt des Impressionismus" 2015 (432,121 visitors)
* "
Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...
" 2009/2010 (367,033 visitors)
* "
Dürer. Kunst – Künstler – Kontext" 2013/2014 (258,577 visitors)
Recent exhibitions:
* "
Holbein Holbein may refer to:
*Holbein (surname)
*Holbein, Saskatchewan, a small village in Canada
*Holbein carpet, a type of Ottoman carpet
*Holbein stitch, a type of embroidery stitch
* Holbein (crater), a crater on Mercury
{{Disambig ...
" 2023/2024
Selected works
*
Robert Campin
Robert Campin (Valenciennes (France) c. 1375 - Tournai (Belgium) 26 April 1444) now usually identified with the Master of Flémalle (earlier the Master of the Merode Triptych, before the discovery of three other similar panels), was a master pai ...
, ''Flémalle Panels'', 1428–1430, mixed technique, 160.2 × 68.2 cm, 151.8 × 61 cm, 148.7 × 61 cm
*
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck ( ; ; – 9 July 1441) was a Flemish people, Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Nort ...
, ''
Lucca Madonna'', 1437, mixed technique, 66 x 50 cm
*
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico, O.P. (; ; born Guido di Pietro; 18 February 1455) was a Dominican friar and Italian Renaissance painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Giorgio Vasari in his ''Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent" ...
, ', 1430–1433, tempera on panel, 37 x 27 cm
*
Rogier van der Weyden
Rogier van der Weyden (; 1399 or 140018 June 1464), initially known as Roger de le Pasture (), was an Early Netherlandish painting, early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commis ...
, ''
Medici Madonna'', 1460–1464, oil on panel, 61.7 x 46.1 cm
* Master of the Frankfurt Paradiesgärtlein, ''
Paradiesgärtlein'', between 1400 and 1420, mixed technique on oak, 26 x 33 cm
*
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (; ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter from Duchy of Brabant, Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, gene ...
, ''
Ecce Homo
''Ecce homo'' (, , ; "behold the man") are the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate in the Vulgate translation of the Gospel of John, when he presents a scourged Jesus, bound and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his crucif ...
'', 1476, oil on panel, 75 x 61 cm
*
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...
, ''
Portrait of a Young Woman'', 1480–85, mixed technique on a poplar panel, 82 x 54 cm
*
Bartolomeo Veneto
Bartolomeo Veneto (active 1502–31) was an Italian painter who worked in Venice, the Veneto (the mainland), and Lombardy. During his time in Venice, he studied under Gentile Bellini. The little information available about Bartolomeo's life ...
, ''Portrait of a Young Woman'', between 1500 and 1530, mixed technique on a poplar panel, 44 x 34 cm
*
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the h ...
, ''
The Blinding of Samson
''The Blinding of Samson'' is a 1636 painting by Rembrandt, now in the Städel (in Frankfurt). The painting is the first of its kind in pictorial tradition. No other artist at the time had painted this specific narrative moment.
This painting ...
'', 1636, oil on canvas, 205 x 272 cm
*
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , ; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...
, ''
The Geographer
''The Geographer'' (Dutch: ) is a painting created by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer in 1668–1669, and is now in the collection of the Städel museum in Frankfurt, Germany. It is closely related to Vermeer's ''The Astronomer (painting), The Ast ...
'', 1668–1669, oil on canvas, 52 x 45.5 cm
*
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, known as the ''Goethe Tischbein'' (15 February 1751 in Haina – 26 June 1829 in Eutin), was a German painter from the Tischbein family of artists.
Biography
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein was born on 15 Febr ...
, ''
Goethe in the Roman Campagna
''Goethe in the Roman Campagna'' is a 1787 painting by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, a German Neoclassicism, Neoclassical painter, depicting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe when the writer was travelling in Italy. Goethe's book on his travels to ...
'', 1787, oil on canvas, 164 x 206 cm
*
Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
, ''The Luncheon'', 1868–1869, oil on canvas, 231.5 x 151.5 cm
*
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...
, ', 1872, oil on canvas, 69 x 49 cm
*
Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...
, ''After the Luncheon'', 1879, oil on canvas, 100.5 x 81.3 cm
*
Franz Marc
Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaking, printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose ...
, ''Dog Lying in the Snow '', 1911, oil on canvas, 62.5 x 105 cm
The museum also features works by the 20th-century German artist
Max Beckmann
Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, drawing, draftsman, printmaker, sculpture, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the m ...
, who taught at the
Städelschule
The Städelschule, full name Hochschule für Bildende Künste–Städelschule, is a tertiary school of art in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It accepts about 20 students each year from around 500 applicants, and has a total of approximately 150 ...
.
Gallery
Lucca Madonna by Jan Van Eyck - Städel - Frankfurt am Main - Germany 2017.jpg, Jan van Eyck, '' Lucca Madonna''
Meister des Frankfurter Paradiesgärtleins 001.jpg, Oberrheinischer Meister, '' Paradiesgärtlein''
Sandro Botticelli 069.jpg, Sandro Botticelli, '' Portrait of a Young Woman''
1520 Veneto Idealbildnis einer Kurtisane als Flora anagoria.JPG, Bartolomeo Veneto
Bartolomeo Veneto (active 1502–31) was an Italian painter who worked in Venice, the Veneto (the mainland), and Lombardy. During his time in Venice, he studied under Gentile Bellini. The little information available about Bartolomeo's life ...
, ''Portrait of a Young Woman''
The Blinding of Samson (SM 1383).png, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, ''The Blinding of Samson
''The Blinding of Samson'' is a 1636 painting by Rembrandt, now in the Städel (in Frankfurt). The painting is the first of its kind in pictorial tradition. No other artist at the time had painted this specific narrative moment.
This painting ...
''
Johannes Vermeer - The Geographer - Google Art Project.jpg, Johannes Vermeer, ''The Geographer
''The Geographer'' (Dutch: ) is a painting created by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer in 1668–1669, and is now in the collection of the Städel museum in Frankfurt, Germany. It is closely related to Vermeer's ''The Astronomer (painting), The Ast ...
''
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein - Goethe in the Roman Campagna - Google Art Project.jpg, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, ''Goethe in the Roman Campagna
''Goethe in the Roman Campagna'' is a 1787 painting by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, a German Neoclassicism, Neoclassical painter, depicting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe when the writer was travelling in Italy. Goethe's book on his travels to ...
''
Claude Monet - The Luncheon - Google Art Project.jpg, Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
, ''The Luncheon''
Edgar Degas - Orchestra Musicians - Google Art Project.jpg, Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...
, ''Musicians in the Orchestra''
Auguste Renoir - After the Luncheon - Google Art Project.jpg, Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...
, ''After the Luncheon''
Franz Marc-Dog Lying in the Snow-1910-1911.jpg, Franz Marc
Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaking, printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose ...
, ''Dog Lying in the Snow''
Directors
The directors of the Städel Museum:
* 1817–1840
*
Philipp Veit
Philipp Veit (13 February 179318 December 1877) was a German Romantic painter and one of the main exponents of the Nazarene movement. It is to Veit that the credit of having been the first to revive the nearly forgotten technique of fresc ...
1830–1843
*
Johann David Passavant
Johann David Passavant (18 September 1787 – 17 August 1861) was a German painter, curator and artist.
Biography
Passavant was born in 1787 in the Free City of Frankfurt, now part of Germany. His interest in the arts was evident by an ...
1840–1861
* Gerhard Malß 1861–1885
* Georg Kohlbacher 1885–1889
*
Henry Thode 1889–1891
* 1891–1904
* 1904–1905
* 1906–1937
* 1938–1972
* 1974–1994
* 1994–2006
*
Max Hollein
Max Hollein (born 7 July 1969 in Vienna) is an Austrian art historian and the current CEO and Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He served as Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco from July 2016, ...
2006–2016
*
Philipp Demandt
Philipp Demandt (born 1971 in Konstanz) is a German art historian and director of the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus sculpture collection in Frankfurt am Main.
Life
Philipp Demandt is the son of the ancient historian Alexander Demandt an ...
since 2016
See also
*
Städelschule
The Städelschule, full name Hochschule für Bildende Künste–Städelschule, is a tertiary school of art in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It accepts about 20 students each year from around 500 applicants, and has a total of approximately 150 ...
*
List of museums in Germany
This is a list of museums and galleries in Germany.
Baden-Württemberg
Bavaria Augsburg
* Augsburg Puppet Theater museum
* Augsburg Railway Park
* Fuggerei museum
* German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame
Bayreuth
* Kunstmuseum Bayreuth
Eichstätt ...
*
List of art museums
Africa
Algeria
* Algiers: Museum of Modern Art of Algiers, Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions, National Museum of Fine Arts of Algiers
* Oran: Ahmed Zabana National Museum
Egypt
* Cairo: Egyptian Museum, Museum of Islamic Ar ...
*
Dresden Gallery
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
,
Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pin ...
Munich,
Altes Museum
The Altes Museum (English: ''Old Museum'') is a List of World Heritage Sites in Germany, listed building on the Museum Island in the Mitte (locality), historic centre of Berlin, Germany. Built between 1825 and 1830 by order of King Frederick Will ...
Berlin
Literature
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Notes
References
Further reading
*
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External links
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Virtual tour of the Städelprovided by
Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google.
It utilizes high-re ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stadel Museum
1818 establishments in the German Confederation
Art museums and galleries in Germany
Museums in Frankfurt
Art museums and galleries established in 1818
Städel
Renaissance Revival architecture in Germany