Department of Prints and Drawings

Regularly changing presentations in the exhibition gallery of the Department of Prints and Drawings introduce the public to various facets of the collection.

The works depicted represent a selection from our holdings.

Department of Prints and Drawings

The holdings of the Städel Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings – located on the ground floor of the original museum building’s left wing – comprise some 100,000 drawings and prints of the period spanning the Late Middle Ages to the present. Thanks to the high quality of these works, our graphic arts collection is one of the most outstanding of its kind in Germany.

Artworks on paper cannot be placed on permanent display due to the danger of damage through prolonged exposure to light. For this reason they are stored in light-proof facilities and placed at the disposal of visitors to the Department of Prints and Drawings Study Hall upon request. Arrangements can be made previously by telephone (please note the opening hours). Visitors can moreover gain insight into various aspects of the graphic arts collection in changing presentations held in the department’s exhibition gallery.

The department has its origins in the collection of Johann Friedrich Städel (1728–1816), the museum’s founder, which was substantially expanded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by prominent connoisseurs such as Johann David Passavant (1787–1861) and Georg Swarzenski (1876–1957). In addition to the excellent pre-1800 works of the Old Master, it features drawings of the Nazarenes, French drawings and prints of the nineteenth century, works of Expressionism and American art after 1945, to name just a few of the highlights.