Museum Georg Schäfer

The Museum Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt has existed since 2000 and to this day attracts international attention for its exhibits, as well as for being an architectural masterpiece by Volker Staab. It houses a unique collection of German painting and drawing from 1760 to 1930.

In terms of quality and scope, the Georg Schäfer Collection is on a par with the collections of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin and the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.

Our journey down the Main leads us to Schweinfurt and the Museum Georg Schäfer. I knew this city as an industrial location, associated it with gears for bicycles and ball bearings.

Ball bearings were ultimately the driving force behind the museum, because Georg Schäfer (1896-1975) developed rolling bearings with which he entered the market at the beginning of the 20th century. With the onset of motorization, ball bearing production became one of the key industries and for Schäfer the financial resources for his passion for collecting. He preferred to focus on 19th century German art, and over time amassed a unique collection.

Schäfer's heirs contributed around 1,000 paintings and 4,650 drawings to the Sammlung-Dr.-Georg-Schäfer-Stiftung, which was established in 1997. This was further increased by extensive endowments (2005, 2016, 2017) and other important loans. Thus, the Museum Georg Schäfer became the most important private collection of 19th century art in the German-speaking world.

For people with and without previous artistic or art historical training, the museum opens perspectives to discover the distinctive characteristics of 19th century painting. The museum sees itself as a forum for the international dissemination of the art of this period, and I am once again fascinated by how the flow of time continues and produces thought-provoking approaches as if by itself, to understand and classify today.