FRANKFURT.- Philipp Demandt will remain at the helm of the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung for a further six years. This decision was made unanimously by the Städel Museum’s administration at its last meeting. The decision to extend his contract reaffirms Demandt’s commitment to one of Europe’s most renowned art museums. Philipp Demandt has been director of the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung since 2016; until 2022, he also headed the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. He came to Frankfurt from the Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 2016.

The Städel Museum, financed by the Stiftung Städelsches Kunstinstitut, is the oldest civic museum foundation in Germany. The museum is significantly supported in its operations by companies, foundations, private sponsors, the City of Frankfurt and the State of Hesse. Since 2006, the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung has been managed as an operating company by the Städel Museum.

Wolfgang Kirsch, Chairman of the Administration of the Stiftung Städelsches Kunstinstitut, comments on the extension: “Philipp Demandt has been managing the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus with great success and widespread acclaim since 2016. With a clear signature and a resolute attitude, diverse programming and innovative educational offerings, he has firmly established his institutions among the top German and international museums. Special exhibitions and new acquisitions, as well as scholarship and research, set standards, as do communication, education and fundraising. The administration of the Städel Museum would like to thank Philipp Demandt and his team for their outstanding performance in recent years and looks forward to continuing to work with them.”

“I am excited and delighted to be able to continue our joint work at the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus in the coming years. We have achieved a great deal.

And we have even more planned, as our institution has some decisive years ahead of it. My sincere thanks go to our loyal audience, as well as to all our partners and supporters from the worlds of business, politics and philanthropy. Without the outstanding commitment of the local community, whose dedication to the Städel Museum is unparalleled, the success story of our institution would not have been possible. I would therefore like to express my sincere gratitude to the Städelscher Museums-Verein, chaired by Sylvia von Metzler, whose members and support groups have accompanied us with generosity and reliability. My special thanks go to all my colleagues at the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus, whose magnificent work is the cornerstone of our institutions’ joint success—their trust makes me prouder than anything else to be able to carry out this role”, said Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung.

In 2024, the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung welcomed 425,000 visitors. The Städel alone recorded an increase of over 100,000 visitors, surpassing the ten-year visitor average.

Under Demandt’s leadership, the Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung have hosted a number of significant special exhibitions. Particularly well received have been discoveries and rediscoveries of artists— especially women artists—as well as new thematic approaches to the Städel’s collection, which spans 700 years. Noteworthy examples include the recent exhibitions Uncensored. Annegret Soltau – A Retrospective, Kollwitz, Städel Women, Rembrandt's Amsterdam. Golden Times? and Isa Genzken at the Liebieghaus.
Demandt also initiated a new series of contemporary art exhibitions, the current instalment of which features video works by the artist Asta Gröting.

This autumn, the Städel and the Liebieghaus will present the major exhibitions Carl Schuch and France (from 24 September), Beckmann (from 3 December) and sculptures by August Gaul (from 13 November). In spring, the Städel will host Monet on the Normandy Coast. The Discovery of Étretat (from 19 March 2026).

On Demandt’s initiative, the collection has been steadily expanded through numerous new acquisitions and generous donations, including most recently Rembrandt Bugatti’s The Devouring Lion (1908) from the art collection of the actor Alain Delon, Max Beckmann’s Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass (1919) from the Hermann Lange Collection, and the Werner Tübke Collection from Barbara and Edouard Beaucamp. The Contemporary Art Collection has been enriched with pioneering works, including pieces by Serge Poliakoff, K. R. H. Sonderborg, Louise Nevelson, Salomé, Alex Katz, Louise Bourgeois, Leiko Ikemura, Elmgreen & Dragset, Victor Man, and Marc Brandenburg.

Demandt considers the scholarly and digital cataloguing of the collections, their conservation and provenance research as well as art education for a broad audience to be essential components of the museum’s work. Under Demandt’s leadership, various construction projects have been successfully completed, including the Städel Rooftop, the redesign of the Städel Garden and the construction of barrier-free access with a lift system at the main entrance, the redesign and energy-efficient conversion of the Old Masters and Modern Art galleries, the renovation and extensive redesign of the rooms of the Department of Prints and Drawings, and the extensive conservation of the historic Main riverfront façade, which is currently being fitted with a new lighting concept. The Städel Restaurant is currently undergoing technical renovation and redesign.

Most recently, Demandt carried out a fundamental modernisation of the internal organisational and management structure of the Städel Museum as part of a comprehensive transformation process and launched a pioneering future project to secure the long-term financial stability of the museum’s operations.