Exhibitions | Städel Museum

Carl Schuch and France

24 SEPTEMBER 2025 TO 1 FEBRUARY 2026
Exhibition Hall
Press Preview: Tuesday, 23 September 2025, 11:00 am

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PRESS RELEASE

MAJOR EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO CARL SCHUCH AND MODERN FRENCH PAINTING FROM 24 SEPTEMBER / TICKET PRE-SALES NOW OPEN

The Städel Museum is dedicating a major exhibition to Impressionist and Realist painting from 24 September 2025. The focus is on Carl Schuch (1846–1903), arguably the most famous “unknown” protagonist of late 19th-century painting. Although largely ignored by the public during his lifetime, Schuch’s work attracted considerable attention from critics, museums, and collectors after his death—only to be forgotten again. With “Carl Schuch and France“, the Städel Museum presents a brilliant rediscovery, bringing together Schuch’s fascinating paintings with important works of French art, including paintings by Paul Cézanne, Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet and Claude Monet. The exhibition focuses on Schuch’s years in Paris. A restless cosmopolitan, he settled in the metropolis in 1882 and experienced the most productive phase of his artistic career there.

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Werner Tübke. Metamorphoses

2 JULY–28 SEPTEMBER 2025
Exhibition Hall of the Department of Prints and Drawings
Press Preview: Tuesday, 1 July 2025, 11.00 am

In 2023, the Städel Museum received an impressive and representative collection of works by Werner Tübke, one of the most important painters of the German Democratic Republic, from the collection of Barbara and Eduard Beaucamp. From 2 July to 28 September 2025, the Städel is now presenting this outstanding donation of forty-six drawings and watercolours by Tübke in an exhibition dedicated to his graphic work and metaphorical visual language. Tübke (1929–2004) ranks alongside Bernhard Heisig and Wolfgang Mattheuer as one of the leading representatives of the so-called First Leipzig School and created a body of work in painting and drawing that is autonomous and consistent, dense in both form and content. “Drawing is an elementary need”, the artist once said, “everything else comes afterwards.” Tübke’s watercolours and drawings in graphite, pen and chalk testify to his great creative freedom and independence. They are an essential part of his artistic oeuvre: he used them to collect ideas, explore formal considerations and develop a wide variety of themes.

In his multi-layered compositions, characterized by an imaginative, sometimes almost exuberant fantasy, Werner Tübke reflects on the complexity of the world, with all its existential questions, hardships, and conflicts. In doing so, he demonstrates a keen awareness of human vulnerability, placing the individual at the centre of his art. Angels, unicorns and magicians, harlequins, veiled and bound figures, and repeatedly tortured and masked characters populate his works. In his “world theatre”, time is suspended through the creative appropriation of older art history, and everything is permeated by memories. While his art is characterized by a realistic formal language, the pictorial statements often remain ambiguous. Tübke was less concerned with a concrete reproduction of reality than with “interpreting existence”.

Werner Tübke’s outstanding contribution to post-war German art was recognized and honoured early on by the West German art critic Eduard Beaucamp. He followed the work of the “great anachronistic” artist from the late 1960s onwards, first as an art critic for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, then as a friend and collector. The Städel Museum, Germany’s oldest private museum foundation, is supported by private patrons, companies and foundations, as well as the city of Frankfurt and the state of Hesse. Barbara and Eduard Beaucamp have been associated with the Städel for many years through their commitment. In 2010, the museum received Guercino’s Virgin and Child (1621–1622) from the Beaucamp Collection as a donation.

Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum, on the exhibition: “Werner Tübke is a solitary figure in post-war German art. His works challenge us to recognize the human in the abysmal, the timeless in the historical and the true in the alienated. It is thanks to Eduard Beaucamp’s decades of tireless commitment that we are able to show his drawings in such depth today. As an art critic, friend and collector, he recognized Tübke’s stature early on and communicated it passionately to the public. The generous donation by Barbara and Eduard Beaucamp represents far more than a significant addition to the Städel Museum’s collection; it sheds new light on Tübke’s work and cements its place in art-historical consciousness.”

“The seemingly realistic nature of Tübke’s work is deceptive, because his art is far from representational or unambiguous. There are always ‘tipping points’, ambiguities and multiple meanings. He was interested in fundamental human themes, which he approached directly through his paintings and drawings. He virtually circled them with each new work. Beaucamp aptly described this artistic approach as ‘thinking in images’. Consequently, Tübke rarely produced classical preliminary sketches for his paintings. Rather, painting, drawing and printmaking were all equal parts of an ongoing process of reflection. The end result is not one pictorial solution, but many—spanning various media and decades. Tübke’s art proves to be constantly changing and as metamorphic as his visual language”, adds Regina Freyberger, Head of Prints and Drawings after 1800 at the Städel Museum and curator of the exhibition.

Curator: Dr. Regina Freyberger (Head of Prints and Drawings after 1800, Städel Museum)
Sponsored by: Heinz and Gisela Friederichs Foundation
With additional support from: Fritz P. Mayer

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UNCENSORED. ANNEGRET SOLTAU—A RETROSPECTIVE

8 MAY 2025–17 AUGUST 2025
Exhibition annex

The body is political—as the work of artist Annegret Soltau (b. 1946) impressively demonstrates. Her art has been causing a stir since the 1970s and remains as relevant as ever. Long considered an insider’s tip despite her art historical significance, Soltau’s work is now regarded as one of the most important positions in feminist photography and body art.
Over the course of more than five decades and in the face of much opposition, Soltau’s independent, radically feminist visual language has established her as an indispensable voice in contemporary art. The Städel Museum is dedicating the first retrospective to her, developed in collaboration with the artist. With more than eighty works, the exhibition offers a comprehensive insight into her multifaceted oeuvre, which ranges from drawings to extended photography, video and installation. Among them are groundbreaking works from Soltau’s studio, some of which are being exhibited for the first time. Important loans from renowned institutions such as the Sammlung Verbund in Vienna, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, the Lenbachhaus in Munich and the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe complete the exhibition.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, the Cultural Foundation of Hesse, the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung and the Städelscher Museums-Verein e. V. Additional support is provided by Yoram Roth and the Georg und Franziska Speyer’sche Hochschulstiftung.

Central themes in Soltau’s work include feminism, body politics and the challenge of human and female identity. To this end, she has developed her own innovative techniques that transcend the boundaries of photography—photo-sewing, photo-restitching and photo-etching. In her self-portraits, Soltau questions female role models and sheds light on social norms by visualizing complex emotional worlds, inner conflicts and emotional states. Since the late 1970s, she has devoted herself to an artistic exploration of pregnancy and motherhood—themes that have been underrepresented in art for centuries and have only recently begun to receive increasing attention in both society and the art world. Her work is also a poignant expression of the ageing of the female body and questions of mortality. Soltau’s work has repeatedly been subject to public censorship; her depictions deviate from established aesthetic conventions and are perceived as provocative. The exhibition at the Städel Museum is an important corrective to this reception and a long overdue tribute to this great feminist and artist.

“Annegret Soltau’s radical formal language and fearless deconstruction of the human body open up new perspectives on identity, corporeality and artistic self-determination. Her art is highly expressive and ahead of its time. With this first retrospective, we honour more than five decades of Annegret Soltau’s artistic work. At the same time, it underscores the Städel Museum’s commitment to making pioneering women artists visible and to encouraging a broad public to engage with essential themes in contemporary art”, explains Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum.

Svenja Grosser, Head of Contemporary Art and curator of the exhibition, summarizes: “Annegret Soltau uses the body, her own self, as a venue for negotiating social structures. With her radical photo-sewing, she has created an entirely new artistic language and established the female body as a medium of self-empowerment. While she is internationally recognized, she has repeatedly faced drastic censorship in this country. We would like to correct this contradictory reception and present the artist Annegret Soltau for what she is: a pioneer of feminist art in Germany.”

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Wall texts "Uncensored. Annegret Soltau—A Retrospective"

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PRESS RELEASE

FRANKFURT FOREVER!
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARL FRIEDRICH MYLIUS

12 February TO 1 June 2025
Exhibition Hall of the Department of Prints and Drawings
Press preview: Tuesday, 11 February 2025, 11.00 am

His photographs are a journey through time. Carl Friedrich Mylius (1827–1916) shaped the image of Frankfurt like no other photographer. From the Zeil, the Eschenheimer Turm, the Goethe Monument and the Römer to the banks of the Main, he captured the city’s most famous sights. In doing so, he became a pioneer of architectural photography more than 150 years ago. From 12 February to 1 June 2025, the Städel Museum is devoting the first major solo exhibition to Carl Friedrich Mylius, featuring some eighty works. The occasion is the donation of 180 photographs from a private collection, which perfectly complement the Städel’s historical holdings of Carl Friedrich Mylius’s photographs and make them accessible to a broad public.

In the 19th century, Frankfurt was an important destination for travellers as a historic site of imperial coronations, as a trade fair city and because of its geographical location near the Middle Rhine. With the rise of tourism, Carl Friedrich Mylius’s photographs of sights that are still famous today became popular souvenirs. Many of his views show a city in transition. At the time, Frankfurt was undergoing not only a political reorganization as a result of Prussian annexation, but also rapid economic and social development. Industrialization and urbanization led to drastic structural changes—entire streets in the old town and inner city disappeared. As a chronicler of this period, Mylius documented the historical sites of his city as well as new buildings, industrial plants and the modern infrastructure. He was also drawn to the areas around Frankfurt—the Feldberg in the Taunus mountains, the towns of Kronberg, Königstein and Gelnhausen—and left behind the first surviving photographs of some of these places. One of the highlights of the exhibition is a 7.60 metre long view of the Main. It is the first photographic panorama in Germany.

“From the very beginning, the fascination with photography has remained unbroken. The photographs of Carl Friedrich Mylius, a native of Frankfurt, are a valuable visual legacy—artistically outstanding works and at the same time important documents of the city’s history. Mylius’s education and life are closely linked to the Städel Museum: he donated photographs to the Städel while he was still actively working. In 2023, this unique historical collection was expanded by a generous private donation. With this exhibition, we are able to present Carl Friedrich Mylius’s complete oeuvre comprehensively for the first time”, says Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum.

“Carl Friedrich Mylius was one of the first in the young Frankfurt photography scene of the late 1850s to specialize in architectural views. As a photographer, he was a neutral observer who captured his subjects objectively and impartially. At the same time, he used stylistic devices such as central perspective and balanced composition, demonstrating his keen sense of design. Even in these early days, photography was more than mere illustration—it was a means of capturing the city in an aesthetic dimension. This made Mylius an early pioneer of architectural photography”, explains Kristina Lemke, curator of the exhibition and Head of Photography, Städel Museum.

Curator: Dr Kristina Lemke (Head of Photography, Städel Museum) with support from Dr Brigitte Sahler
** Sponsored by:** Dr. Marschner Stiftung
With additional support from: Ina Petzschke-Lauermann
Cultural Partner: hr2-kultur

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PRESS RELEASE

EXHIBITION PREVIEW 2025 AND OUTLOOK 2026

A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY TO 19TH-CENTURY FRANKFURT, THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE RETROSPECTIVE DEVOTED TO ANNEGRET SOLTAU, THE DRAUGHTSMAN WERNER TÜBKE, ASTA GRÖTING IN THE CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION, A MAJOR AUTUMN EXHIBITION ON CARL SCHUCH AND FRENCH MODERNISM, MAX BECKMANN ON PAPER AND, IN THE SPRING OF 2026, MONET ON THE NORMANDY COAST. THE DISCOVERY OF ÉTRETAT

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PRESS RELEASE

RINEKE DIJKSTRA
BEACH PORTRAITS

EXTENDED TO JULY 2025
Contemporary Art Collection

The ocean—a gaze: The artist Rineke Dijkstra (*1959) portrays young people looking directly into the camera on various beaches around the world—in Poland, Great Britain, Ukraine, Croatia and the United States. The carefully composed photographs are a search for the essence of human existence: sensitive encounters in which the artist also raises questions about authenticity and truthfulness in portrait photography. From 13 December 2024 to 27 July 2025, the Städel Museum will present 27 of Dijkstra’s works in a solo exhibition, including 23 images from her Beach Portraits series, which attracted international attention and established her as one of the most influential female photographers in contemporary art. Works from the Streets series and a self-portrait of the artist are also featured in the exhibition.
In the Beach Portraits series, created mainly in the 1990s, Dijkstra links the young people portrayed across national borders through a consistent composition. Set against the serene, basic background of the sea and reduced in context and clothing, the focus is entirely on the subjects, their characters and their youthful naturalness, which are manifested in the tiniest nuances of facial expression and posture—especially when, despite their best efforts, their emotional worlds are revealed. As a result, these powerful shots become timeless images that embody the human condition, full of uncertainty, curiosity and the search for identity. Through this unique visual language, which draws on art historical references ranging from the works of Sandro Botticelli to August Sander, among others, Dijkstra’s photographs express a contemporary historical view of the post-Cold War era.

Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum, notes: “Rineke Dijkstra's portraits could not be more contemporary, and at the same time they are already great works of art history: they have long been icons of photography. The medium of photography plays a central role in the Städel Museum’s collection: photographs were acquired for the teaching collection as early as the 1850s. Today, the collection comprises more than 5,000 works—from the beginnings of photography to the immediate present, including key works by pioneering female photographers. I am therefore all the more delighted that, with Rineke Dijkstra, we are now able to present such an important photographic artist at the Städel Museum.”

“In her work, Rineke Dijkstra succeeds in sensitively approaching the essence of the human being—a claim shared by photographic theory and art history. Rineke Dijkstra’s protagonists are people who are not only searching for their identity across cultural boundaries, but who are also united by a timeless question: ‘When and how do I understand myself and how do I want to be perceived by my environment?’ It is this empathetic, all-too-human moment that is expressed in Dijkstra’s works and makes them so timeless”, adds Maja Lisewski, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and curator of the exhibition.

Exhibition dates: 13 December 2024 to 18 May 2025
Curator: Maja Lisewski, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art Collection
Location: Städel Museum, Schaumainkai 63, 60596 Frankfurt am Main
Städel Invites Rineke Dijkstra: 13 December 2024, in partnership with BMW

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Press images

Edouard Manet
Asparagus bunches, 1880
Canvas
46 x 55 cm
Köln, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Dep. 318

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Asparagus bunches, 1880

Wilhelm Leibl
The Painter Carl Schuch, 1876
Oil on canvas
58.5 x 50.5 cm
Munich, Bavarian State Paintings Collections, New Pinakothek

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The Painter Carl Schuch, 1876

Carl Schuch
Still Life with Apples, Pears, and a Carafe, c. 1888
Oil on canvas
63 x 79 cm
Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum

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Still Life with Apples, Pears, and a Carafe, c. 1888

Edouard Manet
Flowers in a Crystal Vase, c. 1882
Oil on canvas, 32.7 x 24.5 cm
Washington, National Gallery of Art, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

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Flowers in a Crystal Vase, c. 1882

Paul Cézanne
Still Life with Fruit Bowl, Apples, and Bread, 1879/80
Oil on canvas, 55.1 × 74.4 cm
Winterthur, Oskar Reinhart Collection "Am Römerholz"

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Stillleben mit Obstschale, Äpfeln und Brot, 1879/80

Carl Schuch
The Rhododendron Basket, 1885/86
Oil on canvas
61 x 78 cm
State Art Collections, Gallery of Old Masters, Dresden

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The Rhododendron Basket, 1885/86

Carl Schuch
Parisian Houses, 1871/72
Oil on canvas
63 x 50 cm
Vienna, Belvedere

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Parisian Houses, 1871/72

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
Harlequin on the Beach, 1965
Graphite on wove paper
408 x 398 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, Harlequin on the Beach, 1965

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
Lourdes, 1977
Graphite on yellow tinted vellum paper
673 x 488 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, Lourdes, 1977

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
Street in Brussels (with Self-Portrait), 1965
Indian ink on wove paper
227 x 278 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, Street in Brussels (with Self-Portrait), 1965

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
On the beach near Suchumi, 1961
Graphite on wove paper
527 x 576 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, On the beach near Suchumi, 1961

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
Women on the Street. On ʻLife Memories of Doctor of Law Schulze III’, 1965
Watercolour, pen and brown ink, on wove paper
290 x 301 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, Women on the Street. On ʻLife Memories of Doctor of Law Schulze III’, 1965

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
On ‘Requiem’, 1965
Brush in grey on wove paper
450 x 628 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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On ‘Requiem’, 1965

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
Funeral in the Tian Shan Mountains in Winter, 1962
Watercolour over graphite on wove paper
232 x 367 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, Funeral in the Tian Shan Mountains in Winter, 1962

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
Icarus over the Vitosha Mountains, 1980
Watercolour on wove paper
239 x 160 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, Icarus over the Vitosha Mountains, 1980

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
Near Selinunte, 1978
Watercolour on wove paper
212 x 212 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, Near Selinunte, 1978

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
The Death of the Magician, 1984
Brush in white over pen and brush in black on reddish-brown tinted wove paper
261 x 364 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, The Death of the Magician, 1984

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
Girl Wearing a Mask, 1980
Graphite, brush and brown and black wash on wove paper
168 x 106 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, Girl Wearing a Mask, 1980

Werner Tübke (1929–2004)
Ignatius of Loyola, 1978
Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
235 x 232 mm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

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Werner Tübke, Ignatius of Loyola, 1978