Caricatura Museum Frankfurt – Museum für Komische Kunst

Current exhibitions

About the museum

The idea for a dedicated venue for Komische Kunst (comic art) arose in the late 1990s in the circle around the satirical magazines Pardon and Titanic. The city's head of cultural affairs at the time commissioned Achim Frenz, who had already built up the Caricatura in Kassel as a gallery for comic art, to establish a museum. From 2000 the Caricatura was initially housed as a department of the Historisches Museum Frankfurt.

In 2007 the city of Frankfurt acquired more than 10,000 original drawings by artists of the Neue Frankfurter Schule (New Frankfurt School) – including F. W. Bernstein, Robert Gernhardt, Chlodwig Poth, Hans Traxler and F. K. Waechter. On October 1, 2008, the museum opened in the Leinwandhaus on the Weckmarkt, a secular building erected around 1400, destroyed in the war, rebuilt in 1984 and converted for the museum in 2007/08.

Since 2019 the Caricatura Museum has been an independent municipal institution. The collection has grown through donations, loans and purchases, such as Hans Traxler's life's work (2024), and now also includes works by other artists of comic art. In 2025 Loriot's artistic estate was added as a permanent loan. Following Achim Frenz's retirement, Martin Sonntag has headed the museum since January 2024.

Large special exhibitions are shown on the first floor with its gallery level; on the second floor, the collection display changes every six months and short-term presentations are shown in the Caricatura Salon. The landmark in front of the building is Hans Traxler's moose sculpture.

Highlights

• Original drawings by the Neue Frankfurter Schule (Gernhardt, Bernstein, Poth, Traxler, Waechter)
• Hans Traxler's life's work
• Loriot's artistic estate on permanent loan
• Hans Traxler's bronze moose in front of the museum
• Historic Leinwandhaus with a hall and view of the cathedral

Permanent exhibitions

• Sammlungsausstellung – Neuhängung mit Originalen aus Loriots Besitz – The collection display, which changes every six months, features works by Waechter, Traxler, Gernhardt and Bernstein, as well as sheets that once belonged to Loriot.

Founded

2008

Operated by

Stadt Frankfurt am Main (Kulturamt)

Director

Martin Sonntag

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Free admission on the last Saturday of the month (Satourday; in August on the second-to-last Saturday).

Kulturpass, Frankfurt-Pass holders and refugees €1. Free with the MuseumsuferCard, Ehrenamtskarte Hessen (volunteer card), Juleica, and for guests from partner cities. Tickets only at the museum ticket desk, no reservations.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

All levels reachable by ramp and elevator; wheelchair-accessible restroom according to the Museumsufer portal. Guide dogs allowed.

Kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Stroller-friendly

The museum takes part in Frankfurt's Satourday family program; it does not list any children's activities of its own. All levels can be reached with a stroller via ramps and elevator.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Café: not available
• Museum shop
• Coat check
• Lockers

Museum shop on the first floor (specialist bookstore for comic art, run together with the bookstore Land in Sicht; no online sales). Lockers in the basement (€1 deposit); larger bags must be locked away. The website gives no information about a café.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Plan your visit