The Städel, officially the Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of the River Main. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 photographs and more than 100,000 drawings and prints.
In 2012, the Städel was honoured as by the German art critics association AICA.[The Art Newspaper list of most-visited art museums, 30 March 2021]
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 (1728–1816), who left his house, art collection and fortune with the request in his will that the institute be set up.
[Meyer, Corina (2017) The origins of the Städelschule (PDF) . Retrieved 26 January 2018] 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 style,
was erected by on
Schaumainkai, a street along the south side of the river Main.
Städelsches Kunstinstitut Frankfurt plan.jpg|Floor plan, 1894
20th century
In 1937, 77 paintings and 700 prints were confiscated from the museum when the
Nazism 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 in Bavaria. There, the museum's paintings and library were discovered by Lt. Thomas Carr Howe, USN, of the American Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program.[Howe, Thomas Carr. 1946. Salt Mines and Castles: The Discovery and Restitution of Looted European Art . New York: Bobbs Merrill. Pages 43–46.]
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.
An expansion building for the display of 20th-century work and special exhibits was erected in 1990, designed by the Austrian architect
Gustav Peichl.
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 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,
Baroque, 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" 2019/2020 (505,750 visitors)
-
"Monet und die Geburt des Impressionismus" 2015 (432,121 visitors)
-
"Botticelli" 2009/2010 (367,033 visitors)
-
"Dürer. Kunst – Künstler – Kontext" 2013/2014 (258,577 visitors)
Recent exhibitions:
Selected works
-
Robert Campin, Flémalle Panels, 1428–1430, mixed technique, 160.2 × 68.2 cm, 151.8 × 61 cm, 148.7 × 61 cm
-
Jan van Eyck, Lucca Madonna, 1437, mixed technique, 66 x 50 cm
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Fra Angelico, , 1430–1433, tempera on panel, 37 x 27 cm
-
Rogier van der Weyden, 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
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Hieronymus Bosch, Ecce Homo, 1476, oil on panel, 75 x 61 cm
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Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Woman, 1480–85, mixed technique on a poplar panel, 82 x 54 cm
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Bartolomeo Veneto, Portrait of a Young Woman, between 1500 and 1530, mixed technique on a poplar panel, 44 x 34 cm
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Rembrandt van Rijn, The Blinding of Samson, 1636, oil on canvas, 205 x 272 cm
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Johannes Vermeer, The Geographer, 1668–1669, oil on canvas, 52 x 45.5 cm
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Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, Goethe in the Roman Campagna, 1787, oil on canvas, 164 x 206 cm
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Claude Monet, The Luncheon, 1868–1869, oil on canvas, 231.5 x 151.5 cm
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Edgar Degas, , 1872, oil on canvas, 69 x 49 cm
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Auguste Renoir, After the Luncheon, 1879, oil on canvas, 100.5 x 81.3 cm
-
Franz Marc, 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, who taught at the Städelschule.
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, Portrait of a Young Woman
The Blinding of Samson (SM 1383).png|Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, The Blinding of Samson
Johannes Vermeer - The Geographer - Google Art Project.jpg|Johannes Vermeer, The Geographer
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein - Goethe in the Roman Campagna - Google Art Project.jpg|Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, Goethe in the Roman Campagna
Claude Monet - The Luncheon - Google Art Project.jpg|Claude Monet, The Luncheon
Edgar Degas - Orchestra Musicians - Google Art Project.jpg|Edgar Degas, Musicians in the Orchestra
Auguste Renoir - After the Luncheon - Google Art Project.jpg|Auguste Renoir, After the Luncheon
Franz Marc-Dog Lying in the Snow-1910-1911.jpg|Franz Marc, Dog Lying in the Snow
Directors
The directors of the Städel Museum:
-
1817–1840
-
Philipp Veit 1830–1843
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Johann David Passavant 1840–1861
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Gerhard Malß 1861–1885
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Georg Kohlbacher 1885–1889
-
Henry Thode 1889–1891
-
1891–1904
-
1904–1905
-
1906–1937
-
1938–1972
-
1974–1994
-
1994–2006
-
Max Hollein 2006–2016
-
Philipp Demandt since 2016
See also
Literature
Notes
Further reading
External links
