Robert Sterl is one of the most important artists of the 20th century who worked in Dresden. His painterly work can be mentioned in the same breath as that of Max Liebermann, Max Slevogt and Lovis Corinth. As a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, he influenced the artistic development of many, and as a juror and member of funding committees and acquisition commissions, he contributed to the success of modernism in Dresden and to shaping the image of the museum collections.
The occasion of the exhibition is the publication of the new catalogue raisonné of Sterl's paintings and oil sketches. This new comprehensive overview of Sterl's work gives the Städtische Galerie Dresden the opportunity to present an overview of his artistic development on the basis of selected major works from private and museum collections. Beginning with the realism of the late 19th century, through the impressionist style and finally with expressionist traits, Sterl's oeuvre represents an artistic bridge from the 19th to the 20th century.