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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.[5][6] It has around 7,000 m2 (75,000 sq ft) of display and a library of 115,000 books.[7]

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Städel
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The Städel Museum, August 2022
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Interactive fullscreen map
Established1817; 207 years ago (1817)
LocationSchaumainkai 63, Museumsufer, Frankfurt, Germany
Coordinates50°6′11.5″N 8°40′25.3″E
TypeArt museum
Key holdingsLucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Sandro Botticelli, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Vermeer, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann, Gerhard Richter
Collections
  • Old Masters
  • Modern Art
  • Contemporary Art
  • Department of Prints and Drawings
  • Photography
Collection size
  • 3,100 paintings
  • 660 sculptures
  • 4,600 photographs
  • 100,000 drawings and prints[1]
Visitors
  • 390,532 (2017)[2]
  • 390,593 (2018)[2]
  • 580.137 (2019)[2]
  • 318,732 (2020)[2]
  • 161,414 (2021)[2]
  • 330,005 (2022)[3]
  • 287,126 (2023)[4]
FounderJohann Friedrich Städel
DirectorPhilipp Demandt
Architects
Employees109 (2021)[2]
Public transit access
Websitewww.staedelmuseum.de
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The Städel Museum with Städel Garden, October 2014

In 2012, the Städel was honoured as Museum of the Year [de] by the German art critics association AICA.[8][9] In the same year the museum recorded the highest attendance figures in its history, of 447,395 visitors.[10] In 2020 the museum had 318,732 visitors, down 45 percent from 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ranked 71st on the list of most-visited art museums in 2020.[11]

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History

19th century

The Städel was founded in 1817,[12] 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.[13][14][15] In the early years, Städel's former living quarters at Frankfurt's Roßmarkt [de] were used to present his collection.[a][18] The collection received its first exhibition building at the Neue Mainzer Straße [de] in 1833.[b][19][20]

19th century building

In 1878, a new museum building, in the Neo-Renaissance style,[21] was erected by Oskar Sommer [de] on Schaumainkai, a street along the south side of the river Main.[22]

20th century

In 1937, 77 paintings and 700 prints were confiscated from the museum when the National Socialists declared them "degenerate art".[23]

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.[24]

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.[25] An expansion building for the display of 20th-century work and special exhibits was erected in 1990, designed by the Austrian architect Gustav Peichl.[26][27] Small structural changes and renovations took place from 1997 to 1999.[28]

The largest extension in the history of the museum to 7,000 m2 (75,000 sq ft) intended for the presentation of contemporary art was designed by the Frankfurt architectural firm Schneider+Schumacher [de] and opened in February 2012.[29][30][31]

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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.[32] Already available to visitors is an exhibition 'digitorial' and free access to WiFi throughout the museum and its grounds. From March the museum will offer to visitors a new 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.[33][34]

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.[35][36]

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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.[37] 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.[38]

The gallery has a conservation department that performs conservation and restoration work on the collection.[39]

Temporary exhibitions

Most visited exhibitions:[40]

  • "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

The museum also features works by the 20th-century German artist Max Beckmann, who taught at the Städelschule.[43]

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Directors

The directors of the Städel Museum:[44]

See also

Literature

  • Mongi-Vollmer, Eva; Städel Museum (2007). Meisterwerke im Städel Museum ausgewählte Werke aus der Sammlung des Städel Museums (in German). Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 978-3-9809701-3-6. OCLC 199141987.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Brinkmann, Bodo (1999). Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie Frankfurt a.M. (in German). München. ISBN 978-3-7913-2204-9. OCLC 237356740.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Brinkmann, Bodo; Kemperdick, Stephan; Städelsches Kunstinstitut (2005). Deutsche Gemälde im Städel 1500-1550 (in German). Mainz am Rhein: Von Zabern. ISBN 3-8053-3350-1. OCLC 60333359.
  • Brinkmann, Bodo; Sander, Jochen (1999). Deutsche Gemälde vor 1800 im Städel (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Blick in die Welt. ISBN 3-88284-003-X. OCLC 71547451.
  • Van Dyke, John Charles (1914). Munich, Frankfort, Cassel; critical notes on the Old Pinacothek, the Staedel Institute, the Cassel Royal Gallery. New York: C. Scribner's Sons. OCLC 518907.
  • Baensch, Tanja (31 December 2011). "Das Museum als "lebendiger" Körper". Museum im Widerspruch. Akademie Verlag. pp. 25–92. doi:10.1524/9783050062358.25. ISBN 978-3-05-004919-9.
  • Pollmer-Schmidt, Almut; Weber, Christiane; Wolf, Fabian; Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main (2021). Deutsche Gemälde im Städel Museum 1550–1725 (in German). Berlin. ISBN 978-3-422-98516-2. OCLC 1285908347.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main; Engler, Martin; Hollein, Max (2012). Gegenwartskunst 1945-heute im Städel Museum (in German). Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7757-3028-0. OCLC 775065939.
  • Krämer, Felix; Hollein, Max; Grobien, Felicity; Lemke, Kristina; Oehsen, Kristine von; Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main (2014). Lichtbilder : Fotografie im Städel Museum von den Anfängen bis 1960 = Photography at the Städel Museum from the beginnings to 1960. Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 978-3-941399-39-6. OCLC 890127728.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Meyer, Corina; Graf, Bernhard; Savoy, Bénédicte (2013). Die Geburt des bürgerlichen Kunstmuseums - Johann Friedrich Städel und sein Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt am Main (in German). Berlin. ISBN 978-3-940939-26-5. OCLC 868261686.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Gallwitz, Klaus; Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main (1986). Besuche im Städel : Betrachtungen zu Bildern (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Insel. ISBN 3-458-32639-1. OCLC 30099262.
  • Fleckner, Uwe; Hollein, Max (2011). Museum im Widerspruch : das Städel und der Nationalsozialismus (in German). Berlin. ISBN 978-3-05-006235-8. OCLC 754580441.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main. Graphische Sammlung; Schütt, Jutta; Sonnabend, Martin; Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main (2008). Masterpieces of the Department of Prints and Drawings : drawings, watercolours and collages. Frankfurt am Main: Städel Museum. ISBN 978-3-86568-177-5. OCLC 226372377.
  • Schiffer, Helen (2012). Augen für die Kunst - das neue Städel Fotografien von Hellen Schiffer, die für die Architekten Schneider + Schumacher die Baustelle des Städel Museums Frankfurt fotografisch begleitet hat ; 10.02.2010 bis 15.01.2012 ; [anlässlich der Eröffnung des Erweiterungsbaus, Städel Museum Frankfurt am Main] (in German). Frankfurt, M. ISBN 978-3-942921-54-1. OCLC 794943152.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Baldessari, John; Engler, Martin; Baumann, Jana (2015). John Baldessari : the Städel paintings. München: Hirmer Verlag GmbH. ISBN 978-3-7774-2449-1. OCLC 912278095.
  • Gaehtgens, Thomas W.; Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie (2015). ... zum Besten hiesiger Stadt und Bürgerschaft : 200 Jahre Städel; eine Festschrift (in German). München: Prestel. ISBN 978-3-7913-5452-1. OCLC 906052843.
  • "Testament von 1816 des Johann Friedrich Städel dem Stifter des Frankfurter Städel Museum". Politik - Netz-Trends (in German). 3 January 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2022.

Notes

  1. 1782–1833: Zum Goldenen Bären, Roßmarkt 18.[16][17]
  2. 1833–1878: Haus Vrints-Treuenfeld, Neue Mainzer Straße Nr. 47–49.[17]

References

Further reading

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