‘Citizens’ Museum’ of Frankfurt Celebrates 200 Years
- 2015-10-14
- The New York Times International
FRANKFURT — When Johann Friedrich Städel, a German banker and spice merchant, decided in 1815 to share his collection of art masterpieces with the public, he turned his home on the Rossmarkt in Frankfurt into a museum and threw open the doors.
This year, the Städel Museum — housed since 1887 in a stately building along the Main river, with an architecturally important gallery space added in 2013 — is celebrating two centuries as Frankfurt’s “citizens’ museum,” with exhibitions that showcase its rich holdings of European art.
The Städel’s permanent collection reflects 700 years of mostly European masterpieces, from the Middle Ages through Modernism by way of the Baroque and German expressionism.
For its 200th anniversary, the museum added two significant pieces to its collection: Guido Reni’s “The Assumption of the Virgin,” from 1596-97, and Edgar Degas’s “Study of a Nude,” from 1888-92. It has also expanded its digital programming, including a Städel app.
Städel the collector was also eager to create an art academy. Today, the Städelschule accepts 150 students from around the world and counts among its graduates architects at the German firm that oversaw the museum’s expansion three years ago.