Image: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
The Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main is presenting 'Stillleben mit Gemüse', a major exhibition by the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset that runs from 20 May 2026 to 17 January 2027. According to the museum, the presentation transforms the Städel into a “fascinating play” between reality and illusion, placing visitors at the centre of the experience while setting the artists’ sculptures and installations in dialogue with the institution’s collection of more than 700 years.
The exhibition is not confined to a single room or section of the building. The museum says 'Stillleben mit Gemüse' extends across the Städel Museum, beginning with two large installations in the contemporary art collection and unfolding through the house and into the adjacent Liebieghaus Sculpture Collection. Works appear in unexpected locations, creating what the museum describes as a near-surreal exchange with the Städel collection and inviting visitors on a kind of treasure hunt through the building.
Elmgreen & Dragset, who have worked together since the mid-1990s, are described by the museum as among the most influential contemporary artists. Their practice spans sculpture, installation, performance and architecture. The Städel presentation emphasises how their work questions familiar spatial structures and activates public and institutional places atmospherically, while also taking up broader questions about social structures, institutionality and perception.
The museum’s exhibition text says the duo uses carefully composed figurative sculptures to draw the audience into storytelling. Through deliberate shifts in viewpoint, they focus attention on everyday moments that might otherwise be overlooked, turning them into poetic scenes marked by criticism and humour. The artists also examine how museums shape the way art history is seen, subtly undercutting traditional forms of display and experimenting with the rules of exhibition-making.
Svenja Grosser, head of the Städel Museum’s Contemporary Art Collection, is named as curator of the exhibition, with Maja Lisewski as project lead. The museum also points to an accompanying interview film in which the artists and curators discuss the dialogue between the sculptures, the architecture and the collection, and the unexpected perspectives that emerge from that relationship. A short exhibition tour is listed for 1 August at 2 pm.
The Städel notes that a ticket for 'Stillleben mit Gemüse' also allows free access to Elmgreen & Dragset’s work 'This Is How We Play Together, Fig. 3' (2023) in the Liebieghaus. The exhibition is on view at the Städel Museum, Schaumainkai 63, Frankfurt am Main, with admission prices starting at 19 euros, and a Tuesday special of 10 euros from 3 pm.
