The Städel Museum has one of the most important Beckmann collections in the world. His works have been collected and studied for more than 100 years. The most recent acquisition of an iconic work for the museum’s collection was Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass (1919) in 2019. Since 2021, important permanent loans from the Karin and Rüdiger Volhard Collection have been added to the museum’s holdings. In the winter of 2025, the Städel Museum turns the spotlight on Max Beckmann (1884–1950) as a draughtsman.

Around eighty works —many of them on public display for the first time—will document the development of his graphic œuvre, from early sketches to late painterly masterpieces. Drawing was of existential importance to Beckmann and accompanied him through all phases of his work. In drawing, he shaped his personal worldview, creating works with pencil, charcoal, chalk and pastel that transformed fleeting impressions into meaningful, multi-layered compositions. The exhibition shows Beckmann at his most intense and creative. Selected paintings and coloured works on paper also provide an insight into the artistic process and the interplay between different media.

The exhibition coincides with the publication of the three-volume catalogue raisonné of Beckmann’s drawings compiled by Hedda Finke and Stephan von Wiese. In addition to drawings from the Städel Museum’s own collection, the exhibition features loans from renowned international museums and private collections. This comprehensive special exhibition invites visitors to rediscover one of the most important artists of the 20th century through hitherto little-known facets of his work.