Welcome to Paradise

Paradise—a place of longing that has captured the human imagination for centuries. As both an earthly and heavenly garden, and as a symbol of the original harmony between humanity and nature, it has become a canvas for religious, philosophical, and artistic ideas.
At the heart of the exhibition is one of the Städel Museum’s most famous and, at the same time, most enigmatic paintings: “The Little Garden of Paradise” (ca. 1410/20). The panel—barely larger than an open book—astonishes with its wealth of detail. In it, the Virgin Mary sits amidst a courtly gathering, while the enclosed garden can be interpreted both as a religious symbol and as a place of worldly love. Particularly striking is the sense of closeness to nature within the work. The exhibition focuses on this groundbreaking connection between art and the perception of nature and comprehensively situates “The Little Garden of Paradise” within the historical and artistic context of Europe around 1400—a time of upheaval, conflict, and intellectual exchange.