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 by
Francesco Guardi,
Thomas de Keyser,
Antonio del Pollaiuolo 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), in 2009 by the collector Ann L. Oppenheimer (Italian, Flemish and Dutch paintings), and in 2019 by the collectors Jeannine Poitrey and Marie-Claire Ballabio (mostly Italian and Dutch paintings). In 2005 the museum reached a settlement with the heirs of Bernhard Altmann over a Canaletto that had been looted by the Nazis from its Jewish owner. ==Painters exhibited (selected)==