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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
Mongi-Vollmer, Eva; Städel Museum (2007). Meisterwerke im Städel Museum ausgewählte Werke aus der Sammlung des Städel Museums (in German). Frankfurt am Main. ISBN978-3-9809701-3-6. OCLC199141987.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Brinkmann, Bodo (1999). Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie Frankfurt a.M. (in German). München. ISBN978-3-7913-2204-9. OCLC237356740.{{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. ISBN3-8053-3350-1. OCLC60333359.
Brinkmann, Bodo; Sander, Jochen (1999). Deutsche Gemälde vor 1800 im Städel (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Blick in die Welt. ISBN3-88284-003-X. OCLC71547451.
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. ISBN978-3-422-98516-2. OCLC1285908347.{{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. ISBN978-3-7757-3028-0. OCLC775065939.
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. ISBN978-3-941399-39-6. OCLC890127728.{{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. ISBN978-3-940939-26-5. OCLC868261686.{{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. ISBN3-458-32639-1. OCLC30099262.
Fleckner, Uwe; Hollein, Max (2011). Museum im Widerspruch : das Städel und der Nationalsozialismus (in German). Berlin. ISBN978-3-05-006235-8. OCLC754580441.{{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. ISBN978-3-86568-177-5. OCLC226372377.
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. ISBN978-3-942921-54-1. OCLC794943152.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Gaehtgens, Thomas W.; Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie (2015). ... zum Besten hiesiger Stadt und Bürgerschaft : 200 Jahre Städel; eine Festschrift (in German). München: Prestel. ISBN978-3-7913-5452-1. OCLC906052843.
^Mongi-Vollmer, Eva; Städel Museum (2007). Meisterwerke im Städel Museum ausgewählte Werke aus der Sammlung des Städel Museums (in German). Frankfurt, M. p. 8. ISBN978-3-9809701-3-6. OCLC199141987.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Frost, Reinhard. "Sommer, Oskar". Frankfurter Personenlexikon (in German). Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
^Lubitz, Alfred. "Johannes Krahn 1908". 1974. Architekten-Portrait von Jan Lubitz (in German). Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
^Mundt, Jürgen (25 February 2012). "Städel Museum". Die Welt (in German). Archived from the original on 29 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
^Peichl, Gustav (1990). Städel : der Museums Erweiterungsbau von Gustav Peichl (in German). Salzburg: Residenz Verlag. ISBN3-7017-0671-9. OCLC25769108.
^Ator, Jodean (27 May 2020). "Städel Art Museum in Frankfurt". Frankfurt on Foot Walking Tours. Archived from the original on 29 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.