The 19th century collection begins around 1800 and extends to works from the 1910s and 1920s, which can be assigned to the late Impressionism. In addition to paintings and sculptures by the Stuttgart Classicists, works by the German Romantics and Realists as well as paintings by French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists are also part of the collection. Another highlight are works by the Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler and the German Impressionists. The collection includes about 1200 paintings and sculptures.
Stuttgart Classicism
The numerous history paintings and portraits are mostly by graduates of the Stuttgart High Carlsschule. The collection includes paintings by Philipp Friedrich Hetsch, Gottlieb Schick, Eberhard Wächter and sculptures by Johann Heinrich Dannecker, whose workshop estate the State Gallery owns. Her art is influenced by French models from the late 18th and early 19th centuries and is closely linked to the founding of the Staatsgalerie. The former Museum of Fine Arts was built in the 1830s, also in order to be able to adequately present the works of the Classicists.
Romance and Realism
The romantic landscapes by Caspar David Friedrich, Carl Gustaf Carus and Joseph Anton Koch explore the mysteries of nature. Anselm Feuerbach and Arnold Böcklin, on the other hand, found their world reflected in the myths of antiquity in the mid-19th century. Finally, with his humorous works, Carl Spitzweg shapes our image of the Biedermeier period and its apparent idyll: even then, the “good old days” were mere utopias.
The Perseus Cycle
As a kind of Victorian time capsule, the Perseus cycle by the British Pre-Raffelite Edward Burne-Jones is one of the highlights of the collection: the story of the Greek demigod Perseus and the king's daughter Andromeda, who is harassed by a sea monster, is told in eight mysteriously disturbing images. This group of works, planned as room decoration, is unique on the European continent.
French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
Major works by Gustave Courbet, Edouard Manet, Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Alfred Sisley, as well as Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro offer a comprehensive overview of French Impressionist landscape and figure painting. Post-Impressionism is represented by works by Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne and Eduard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard, who belong to the “Nabis” group.
Secessionism and German Impressionism
An important group of works by the German Impressionists Max Slevogt and Lovis Corinth and a series of major works by the Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler, including his monumental painting “Retreat from Marignano”, bridge the gap to the 20th century.
