The Städel Museum presents Impressionist and Realist painting and celebrates a brilliant discovery in Carl Schuch. Probably the best-known "unknown" of the late 19th century, Schuch was barely noticed by the public during his lifetime. After his death, his work attracted considerable attention from critics, museums and collectors and was then forgotten again. Combined with important French paintings by Cézanne, Corot, Courbet, Manet and Monet, the exhibition brings Schuch's fascination to life.

The exhibition focuses on Carl Schuch's years in Paris: as a restless cosmopolitan, he settled in the metropolis in 1882 and experienced the most productive phase of his artistic work there.

Carl Schuch translated his sensory impressions into "pure painting", which is characterized by subtle tonal gradations and sonorous colour harmonies. While he devoted himself primarily to open-air painting in the summer, still life became his central field of experimentation in the studio. In order to explore different color effects, he varied a fixed repertoire of motifs in ever new constellations. He was just as interested in complementary contrasts and the change in colors through light and shadow as he was in color mixtures and new colorants. Schuch repeatedly transferred the outstanding painting technique he had tried out in his still lifes to his landscape paintings.

Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
Flowers in a crystal vase, ca. 1882 © Washington, National Gallery of Art, Alisa Mellon Bruce Collection, Inv. No. 1970.17.37

Schuch engaged intensively with the work of his role models - alongside German companions such as Wilhelm Trübner and Wilhelm Leibl, especially his French contemporaries. The Städel Museum's latest art-technological investigations provide fascinating insights into the creation of his paintings. The free use of color and Schuch's unmistakable handwriting make his painting a discovery.
September 24, 2025 to February 1, 2026