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

Press texts

PRESS RELEASE

ASTA GRÖTING. A WOLF, PRIMATES AND A BREATHING CURVE

5 SEPTEMBER 2025 TO 12 APRIL 2026
Collection of Contemporary Art
Press Preview: Friday, 5 September 2025, 9.30 am

Intimate moments and closeness characterize the multifaceted work of the German artist Asta Gröting (b. 1961). Originally and still working as a sculptor, she has expanded her artistic practice to include film and video. She has been one of the most influential figures in contemporary German art since the 1990s. In her work, she renders the invisible visible by focusing on processes that often go unnoticed in everyday life, as well as on interpersonal relationships. From 5 September 2025 to 12 April 2026, the Städel Museum will present a solo exhibition of the artist’s work in its Collection of Contemporary Art, featuring eight works created between 2015 and 2025, including seven video works and one laser projection specially developed for the exhibition. This selection enables visitors to experience the fluid transitions between nature and culture, intimacy and distance, the familiar and the foreign. The videos capture or stage moments from Gröting’s own environment and human existence. Her deliberate manipulation of time lends the works a particular intensity. The films are more than visual representations of our environment: they open up contemplative spaces that encourage reflection on the intricacies of hidden relationships and their dynamics.
Through her work, Gröting shows how art can act as a medium for interpersonal connections by capturing intimate and intense encounters. Her sensitive translation of captivating moments into moving images invites viewers to explore the subtle, often hidden liminal states of existence, and experience the poetry of the moment anew. Highlights of the exhibition include the work Breathing Curve (2025), created especially for the exhibition, and the premiere of her latest video work, Matthias, Helge and Asta (2025), featuring Matthias Brandt, Helge Schneider and Asta Gröting herself as protagonists.

Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum: “Asta Gröting’s films reveal the visual poetry of our everyday lives through precise observation and give space to the hidden. The Städel has owned the sculptural work We, We, We, You, You, I (1994) by the artist since 2019. With this exhibition, we are deliberately placing an emphasis on the artist’s video art. Gröting’s work represents an artistic practice that addresses social and existential issues in a multilayered way. Her video art explores the boundaries between staging and everyday life by developing traditional narrative forms further. It thus ideally complements the profile of the Collection of Contemporary Art at the Städel Museum.”

“In her work, Asta Gröting focuses on things that often escape our attention, such as subtle gestures of everyday life, empty spaces and the relationships between humans and animals. The works on display are based on precise observations, in which the artist shifts meanings and condenses sensations. Gröting’s intense video works focus on the seemingly invisible, as well as on psychological processes, rendering them tangible for viewers. Her concentrated reflections question our communication, our environment, and our perception. Without providing clear answers, she creates an open space for personal feelings,” adds Svenja Grosser, Head of Contemporary Art at the Städel Museum and curator of the exhibition.

Curator: Svenja Grosser (Head of Contemporary Art, Städel Museum)
Project Manager: Gioia Mattner (Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Städel Museum)

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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.

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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

The full press release can be found here.

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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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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve" Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"
Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz

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Exhibition view "Asta Gröting. A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve"

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

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Carl Schuch, Parisian Houses, 1871/72

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

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Wilhelm Leibl, The Painter Carl Schuch, 1876

Gustave Courbet
The stream of Brême, 1866
Oil on canvas
114 x 89 cm
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

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Gustave Courbet, The stream of Brême, 1866

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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Paul Cézanne, Stillleben mit Obstschale, Äpfeln und Brot, 1879/80

Claude Monet
View of the Creuse in cloudy weather, 1889
Oil on canvas
73,5 x 92,5 cm
Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal

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Claude Monet, View of the Creuse in cloudy weather, 1889

Carl Schuch
Dead fox, 1882 or 1883
Oil on canvas
69,5 x 93 cm
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie
seit 2015 unbefristete Leihgabe der Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung

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Carl Schuch, Dead fox, 1882 or 1883

Carl Schuch
The Rhododendron Basket, 1886–1894
Oil on canvas
61 x 78 cm
State Art Collections, Gallery of Old Masters, Dresden
© Albertinum | GNM, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden / Jürgen Karpinski

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Carl Schuch, The Rhododendron Basket, 1885/86

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

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Edouard Manet, Asparagus bunches, 1880

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
© Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

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Edouard Manet, Flowers in a Crystal Vase, c. 1882

Carl Schuch
In the Doubs Valley (rocky forest landscape), 1886-1893
Oil on canvas
62 x 83 cm
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, München – Neue Pinakothek

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Carl Schuch, In the Doubs Valley (rocky forest landscape), 1886-1893

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

Carl Schuch
Pumpkin, peaches and grapes, around 1884–1897
Oil on canvas
62 x 81 cm
Belvedere, Wien

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Carl Schuch, Pumpkin, peaches and grapes, around 1884–1897

Carl Schuch
Inner forest at the Saut du Doubs, around 1886-1893
Oil on canvas
150 x 200 cm
Belvedere, Wien

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Carl Schuch, Inner forest at the Saut du Doubs, around 1886-1893

Asta Gröting
Matthias, Helge and Asta, 2025
4K UHD video with sound, 8 min
Photo: Konstantin von Sichart
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

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Asta Gröting, Matthias, Helge and Asta, 2025

Asta Gröting
Cherry Blossom – Dawn and Dusk, 2022
Videostill
4K UHD video with sound, loop 6:29 min
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

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Asta Gröting, Cherry Blossom – Dawn and Dusk, 2022

Asta Gröting
Wolf and Dog, 2021
Videostill
4K UHD video with sound, 9:58 min
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

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Asta Gröting, Wolf and Dog, 2021

Asta Gröting
Things, 2018
Videostill
4K UHD video with sound, 6:32 min
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

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Asta Gröting, Things, 2018

Asta Gröting
Things, 2018
Videostill
4K UHD video with sound, 6:32 min
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

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Asta Gröting, Things, 2018

Asta Gröting
First Drink, 2018
Videostill
4K UHD video with sound, 17:05 min
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

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Asta Gröting, First Drink, 2018

Asta Gröting
Touch, 2015
Videostill
4K UHD video, 16:21 min
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

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Asta Gröting, Touch, 2015

Asta Gröting
Photo: Jennifer Endom
© 2024 Asta Gröting, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

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Asta Gröting