Images & Texts

17 September 2026–17 January 2027
Exhibition Annex

Somewhere between saint, sinner and close companion of Christ: as one of the most multifaceted female figures in biblical tradition and art history, Mary Magdalene has fascinated for centuries. Her story is one of transformations: from apostle and faithful follower of Jesus to sinner and ascetic penitent, from ecstatic saint to modern, self-determined woman and role model. With “Mary Magdalene. Sin. Pray. Love.”, the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung are presenting the first comprehensive exhibition in the German-speaking world dedicated to the extraordinary figure of Mary Magdalene from 17 September 2026 to 17 January 2027. The exhibition portrays her not only as a projection screen for cultural and religious ideas, but also as an independent, multidimensional figure through whom diverse conceptions of the body, faith and social roles are revealed.

Drawing on important works from the collections of the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, the exhibition brings together a total of over 100 outstanding paintings, sculptures and prints from the Middle Ages to the present day. These include significant loans from international collections, among them five outstanding works from the National Gallery in London, as well as others from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Louvre in Paris, the Vatican Museums and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Together, the works offer a comprehensive insight into the artistic and emotional range of depictions of Mary Magdalene and illustrate how each era has imbued the figure with its own questions, ideas and longings. Works by women artists such as Lavinia Fontana, Elisabetta Sirani, Luisa Roldán, Lotte Laserstein, Kiki Smith, Marlene Dumas and Nieves González are a special focus of the exhibition, alongside major works by eminent male artists including Albrecht Dürer, Pedro de Mena, Guercino, Georges de La Tour, Claude Lorrain, Arnold Böcklin, Max Beckmann and David LaChapelle.

Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung: “Mary Magdalene fascinates because she vividly reflects the changing perceptions of women, faith and society over the centuries. Her story is therefore also always a story of how she has been viewed. For us at the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, this exhibition provides a unique opportunity to explore this evolution through a wide variety of artistic media, spanning various eras and geographical boundaries. The collections of both institutions form the starting point for this. In dialogue with significant loans, a panorama emerges that shows how a figure changes as the world around her changes.”

The exhibition’s curators, Bastian Eclercy, Head of Italian, French, and Spanish Paintings before 1800 at the Städel Museum, and Stefan Roller, Head of the Medieval Department at the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, explain: “Over the course of almost a millennium, Mary Magdalene has been depicted time and again in a wide variety of media and eras. This extraordinary diversity makes her visual history a particularly revealing mirror of the respective eras. The exhibition brings together paintings, sculptures and prints from various regions and centuries. When viewed side by side, the works reveal surprising connections, as well as the profound changes that the image of Mary Magdalene has undergone over time.”

Sponsored by: Gemeinnützige Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain GmbH, Dagmar-Westberg-Stiftung, Städelverein with the Städelfreunde 1815

With additional support by: Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung

Media Partner: Süddeutsche Zeitung, ARTE

Find the full press release here.