Caricatura Museum Frankfurt

The Caricatura Museum was an unplanned, unexpected gem found on a day trip to Frankfurt, Germany: it hadn’t yet opened, so I continued on to Frankfurt’s other sites and museums to fill my day. I fortunately needed to spend the night at the Frankfurt Airport before flying home, and I decided to drag myself back into the city and visit the museum. Good decision!

Background

The Caricatura Museum Frankfurt opened in 2008 in what is considered the unofficial capital of German satire (as if I would know). The surprisingly small building is three floors for exhibiting their permanent collection as well as various temporary exhibits: posters for previous exhibits can be see on the staircase.

Visitor beware: the museum is completely in German, no English in sight! Google Translate was my savior, using its Live Mode to translate. Tiring, yes, but well worth it.

Primary Temporary Exhibit

The current exhibit displays the work of Martin Perscheid. Awarded the Max und Moritz Award in 2002, Perscheid’s single-panel work reminded me of Gary Larson‘s The Far Side though with seemingly fewer animals and, at times, darker and , addressing controversial topics that naive Americans might assume are verboten in Germany.

Perhaps more meaningful in the original German, but still hilarious when computer-translated. A number of his cartoons could be perceived as anti-woman, but he may also be using his art to point out the inanity of those anti-woman assholes. Not sure and unlikely to learn, as Perscheid died in 2021. Imagine his cartoons addressing the today’s political environment, in particular the current occupant of the White House!

Secondary Temporary Exhibition

In Salon #5 was the exhibit Satire During The Crisis of Democracy by the cartoonist(s?) Stricheln and Sticheln. Some good stuff here but honestly, after spending an hour with Perscheid I was starting to lose steam: it’s tiring to constantly translate using a phone! Nevertheless, some good stuff.

Permanent Exhibit

I was mentally checked-out by the time I reached the permanent exhibit on the third floor: some wonderful art, such as the Putin cartoon above, but I was tired and hungry and really didn’t take the time to appreciate it. Sorry!

Final Thoughts

Unquestionably an museum worthy of your patronage. My visit was approximately 90 minutes but I could have easily been 2+ hours. The museum is easy to navigate with minimal cruft to distract you from the cartoons. The lack of English is to be expected, the focus being German artists and cartoons, but that did not diminish my enjoyment of the cartoons: no one seemed bothered that I was using my phone to translate. Though the artwork itself is outstanding, understanding what is being said makes for a better experience.

Logistics

Website: http://www.caricatura-museum.de/

Address: Weckmarkt 17, 60311 Frankfurt am Main

Open: Tuesday-Sunday, 11:00-19:00

Tickets: 8,- €, 4,- € reduced (such as Frankfurt Card)

English: Zilch, nada, nothing.

Children?: No recommended. Though some artwork might be colorful and interesting, the subject matter is definitely adult-oriented.