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 ...

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 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. 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 (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. 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 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.

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 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" 2023/2024

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 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, ', 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'', 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, ''Portrait of a Young Woman'', between 1500 and 1530, mixed technique on a poplar panel, 44 x 34 cm * Rembrandt van Rijn, '' The Blinding of Samson'', 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'', 1668–1669, oil on canvas, 52 x 45.5 cm * Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, '' Goethe in the Roman Campagna'', 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, ', 1872, oil on canvas, 69 x 49 cm * 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 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, ''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,

, ''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 * Johann David Passavant 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 2006–2016 * Philipp Demandt since 2016

Literature

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Virtual tour of the Städel
provided 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