Strasbourg Museum of Fine Arts

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg is the old masters paintings collection of the city of Strasbourg, located in the Alsace region of France. The museum is housed in the first and second floors of the baroque Palais Rohan since 1898. The museum displays works by non-Upper Rhenish artists from between the 14th century and 1871 and by Upper Rhenish artist from between 1681 and 1871. The museum owned 1,934 works as of 31 December 2015, this number has substantially increased since. The old masters from the upper-Rhenish area until 1681 are exhibited in the neighboring Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame.

Historical overview

The first municipal art collection of the city of Strasbourg was the result of the French Revolution, and was a consequence of the expropriation of churches and cloisters. Through the years, the collection, which was founded in 1801, grew by private donations, as well as government loans from the inventory of the Louvre. On August 24, 1870, the museum, which was housed in the Aubette on Place Kléber, was set on fire by Prussian artillery fire and completely destroyed. After the end of the Franco-Prussian War, it was resolved to re-establish the museum, and the imperial art historian Wilhelm von Bode was commissioned with the task in 1889. In 1890, the museum was launched and was re-stocked since that time by acquisitions and gifts. In 1931 under the leadership of Hans Haug (1890–1965), the collection of medieval art and upper-Rhenish painting (Konrad Witz, Hans Baldung, Sebastian Stoskopff) was transferred to the newly founded Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame. The collection of modern art went to the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Strasbourg). Haug's superior during the German occupation from 1940 to 1944 was Kurt Martin.

On August 13, 1947, fire destroyed part of the re-established collection, including works of Francesco Guardi, Thomas de Keyser, Antonio del Pollaiolo and Lucas Cranach the Elder. However, with the money from the insurance, it was possible to acquire other artistically valuable paintings. Apart from regular purchases on the art market, the collection of the museum is also regularly being expanded by substantial donations, notably in 1987 and 1994 by collectors Othon Kaufman and François Schlageter (Italian paintings), in 2004 by collectors Roger and Elisabeth Eisenbeth (Dutch paintings,)[5] in 2009 by the collector Ann L. Oppenheimer (Italian, Flemish and Dutch paintings),[6] and in 2019 by the collectors Jeannine Poitrey and Marie-Claire Ballabio (mostly Italian and Dutch paintings).

Located in: Palais Rohan
A 2-min walk from the Strasbourg Cathedral
Address: 2 Place du Château, 67000 Strasbourg, France
Hours: Closed ⋅ Opens 10AM Wed
Phone: +33 3 68 98 50 00
Established: 1890
Collection size: paintings, sculptures