»Eccentric, elegant, beautiful, ugly – on closer inspection, you lose sight of the differences.«
Marietta Merck, 1980

Opened in 2010, the »Stangenberg Merck Museum«, sponsored by the family, is one of the most beautiful private art museums along the Bergstrasse and is often described by visitors as an overall work of art. For the municipality of Seeheim-Jugenheim, the idyllically situated private museum is of great cultural value. It is located south of Darmstadt in a villa known as the »Haus auf der Höhe«. Originally built in 1860 for Carl Merck, it was extended in 1904 by the architect Heinrich Metzendorf.

With a surface area of around 800 m², the museum spans four floors and primarily displays the work of painter Heidy Stangenberg-Merck, who grew up in the house. Thanks to her mother Marietta Merck, she receives an exemplary education from a young age. From 1943 to 1950, she studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where she meets Karl Stangenberg, who had recently finished his degree in music. They marry in 1956.

With the opening of the museum, around 1,800 works by Heidy Stangenberg-Merck created over 62 years make their way to Jugenheim. In addition to hundreds of oil and tempera paintings, the catalog of work includes linocuts, etchings and drawings. Her pictures display her extraordinary talent, especially of expressing the unspectacular and portraying the beauty of simple things in an unpretentious, consistent and confident style. A favorite subject of her work is Greece, which since her first visit in 1955 continually inspires her anew and which she regards as a second home.

The villa in Jugenheim also showcases the work of Karl Stangenberg, who shifted the focus of his creativity from music to poetry in 1985. Previously, he had performed as a flute soloist in concerts throughout Europe, South America and Asia. A talented musician, Stangenberg’s mix of sensitivity, precision and discipline also benefit his poetry. Perfectly refined and hitting the nail on the head, his poems portray the major and minor strengths and weaknesses of humans.

Of course the museum on the Bergstrasse also houses works by Marietta Merck, who continues to paint and draw well into old age, and by Heidy Stangenberg-Merck’s cousin, the sculptor Christiane von Kessel, who not only makes wooden sculptures, but also draws and works with bronze and glass. Exhibiting artists, events and the idyllic location draw hundreds of visitors to the »Haus auf der Höhe«.

At the end of the 1850s, Jugenheim begins to grow in popularity as a relaxing holiday destination. Guest houses and hotels emerge, wealthy families build lavish villas. Marietta Merck, a painter and sculptor, spends her youth there.

Her daughter, the artist Heidy Stangenberg-Merck, grows up in the »Haus auf der Höhe«, which has housed the Museum since 2010. The private museum is open to the public year round and gives visitors the opportunity to view its contents through tours.

The museum not only enchants visitors with its beautiful interior and exterior views, but also with temporary exhibitions such as those of sculptor Christiane von Kessel. The Artificium at the museum, which also serves as the gift shop, focuses on collecting, maintaining and displaying the works of a small, select number of artists.