Carl Schuch and France

PRESS RELEASE

CARL SCHUCH AND FRANCE

24 SEPTEMBER 2025 – 1 FEBRUARY 2026
Exhibition Annex
Press Preview: Tuesday, 23 September 2025, 11.00 am

Carl Schuch (1846–1903) is one of the most fascinating painters of the 19th century. From 24 September, the Städel Museum will present the major autumn exhibition “Carl Schuch and France”, which will take a comprehensive look at his work, as well as at Impressionist and Realist painting. Schuch has long been an insider tip. He is perhaps the best-known “unknown” protagonist of late 19th-century painting. His art is a discovery. As a restless cosmopolitan, he broke away from national attributions early on and devoted himself uncompromisingly to painting. During his lifetime, he was hardly known to the public, but after his death, the art world quickly recognized the quality of his work, before it later fell into oblivion again.

The Städel Museum is bringing together around seventy of Schuch’s paintings in a stimulating dialogue with some fifty important works by French artists, including Paul Cézanne, Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet and Claude Monet. The exhibition focuses on Schuch’s years in Paris, where he experienced his most artistically formative period from 1882 to 1894. Schuch’s painting exudes a quiet yet impressive power. His work is characterized by subtle colour nuances, an extraordinary sensitivity to light and atmosphere, and an intense search for artistic truthfulness. Refusing to be pigeonholed into any particular style, he developed an unmistakable visual language.

This exhibition is more than a tribute. It presents Carl Schuch as an artist who, with his European perspective and unwavering attitude, wrote an independent chapter in art history. Current art technology research deepens our understanding of his working methods and opens up new perspectives on his work. The findings are presented in a clear and comprehensible way in the exhibition. With “Carl Schuch and France”, the Städel Museum invites visitors to embark on a journey of discovery that puts the artistic cosmopolitan and his impressive visual world in the spotlight they deserve.

Here is the full press release as a PDF.