Max Ernst was a German painter, graphic artist, sculptor, and poet. A pioneer of the Dada movement, Ernst played an important role in popularizing surrealism during the early-20th century. He is also credited with inventing a couple of techniques, namely frottage and grattage. In 2005, the Max Ernst Museum was opened in his honor in Brühl, Germany.
![Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/gerhard-richter-1.jpg)
German visual artist Gerhard Richter started out as a Social Realist painter and was later exposed to avant-garde art. He mastered the art of painting scenes collected from newspapers and magazines, including terrorists and serial killer victims. He later also worked on stained-glass design and abstract art.
![Otto Dix Otto Dix](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/otto-dix-1.jpg)
German painter, engraver and printmaker Otto Dix, counted among the most significant artists of Neue Sachlichkeit, is noted for his harsh and brutal depictions of war and severe situation of German society during the Weimar Republic. Some of his paintings, exhibited in Otto Dix House, which showcases materials on his life and work, include Selbstbildnis als Rauchern and Meine Freundin Elis.
![Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/kthe-kollwitz-1.jpg)
Noted for series like Weavers’ Revolt and Peasants’ War, sculptor and graphic artist, Käthe Kollwitz, came in contact with the urban poor when she moved into Berlin's working class area. Touched by their plight, she soon started portraying them through her etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, and drawings, quickly becoming a powerful advocate for those suffering from social injustice, war, and inhumanity.
![Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/albert-bierstadt-1.jpg)
Landscape painter Albert Bierstadt immortalized the natural attractions of the American West, such as the Rocky Mountains, in his works. One of the finest painters of the Hudson River school, he specialized in paintings that showcased bright lighting, or luminism, and created over 500 paintings throughout his career.
![Walter Sickert Walter Sickert](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/walter-sickert-1.jpg)
Part of the Camden Town Group of painters, who showcased both Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, German-born British painter Walter Sickert liked painting both people and scenes. His work Jack the Ripper's Bedroom gave rise to speculations that he could have been either the killer or his accomplice.
![Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/ernest-louis-grand-duke-of-hesse-1.jpg)
![Karl Wallenda Karl Wallenda](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/karl-wallenda-1.jpg)
![Franz Marc Franz Marc](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/franz-marc-1.jpg)
Best known as one of the founders of the German Expressionist group The Blue Rider, German painter Franz Marc mostly depicted animals through his works. The Tower of Blue Horses and Yellow Cow are two of his notable works. Children and the mentally disabled also appeared as his subjects.
![Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Ernst Ludwig Kirchner](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/ernst-ludwig-kirchner-1.jpg)
One of the pioneers of Expressionism, German painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner co-established the artists’ group Die Brücke, or The Bridge. His iconic works such as Girl under Japanese Umbrella and Street, Berlin displayed psychological and erotic themes. Declared a "degenerate" by the Nazis, he later committed suicide.
![Anselm Kiefer Anselm Kiefer](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/anselm-kiefer.jpg)
German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, counted among leading figures of the Neo-Expressionist art movement of the late 20th century, is noted for his works like The Hierarchy of Angels (painting), The Secret Life of Plants (sculpture) and Grane (woodcut). Themes of Kiefer were often influenced by the spiritual concepts of Kabbalah, horror of the Holocaust and poems of Paul Celan.
German/New Zealand visual artist Sandro Kopp is based in Scotland and explores “mediated presence.” His work merges new-age digital elements with classical painting. He is also known as the boyfriend of Academy Award-winning actor Tilda Swinton. His works have been exhibited all across the globe, including France and Italy.
![Eva Hesse Eva Hesse](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/eva-hesse-1.jpg)
Born in Germany, Eva Hesse moved with her family to England, and then to the U.S., in a bid to escape the Nazi regime. Her death due to brain tumor at age 34 cut short her dynamic career. A sculptor and painter, she experimented with media such latex, metal, and mesh.
![Kurt Schwitters Kurt Schwitters](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/kurt-schwitters-1.jpg)
German artist and poet Kurt Schwitters, known for collage, artist's book, installation, sculpture and poetry, is noted for his collages and relief-constructions. Schwitters planned a Dada section in Hanover and the Merz art-style traces back to him, which he found by chance while forming a collage with the German word Kommerz. One of his notable works is Das Undbild, 1919.
![George Grosz George Grosz](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/george-grosz-9306-1.jpg)
German Expressionist artist George Grosz, later a naturalized US citizen, is most noted for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life. A leading member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity groups during the Weimar Republic, Grosz later departed from his earlier style and subjects and taught at the Art Students League of New York for several years.
![Max Beckmann Max Beckmann](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/max-beckmann-1.jpg)
Max Beckmann was a German painter, sculptor, draftsman, printmaker, and writer. Even though scholars classify him as an Expressionist artist, he personally never identified as one. He became involved with the New Objectivity movement in the 1920s. He taught at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts at Washington University in his last years.
![Wolfgang Beltracchi Wolfgang Beltracchi](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/wolfgang-beltracchi.jpg)
German art-forger and artist Wolfgang Beltracchi gained notoriety for his involvement in an international art scam where he forged paintings of famous artists like Max Ernst, Fernand Léger, Heinrich Campendonk, and Kees van Dongen and sold them to make profits that surpassed $100m. Beltracchi and his wife, Helene, were found guilty and were given six-year and four-year prison terms respectively.
![Paula Modersohn-Becker Paula Modersohn-Becker](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/paula-modersohn-becker-1.jpg)
![Charlotte Salomon Charlotte Salomon](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/charlotte-salomon-18679-1.jpg)
German Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon was killed along with her unborn child by the Nazis at Auschwitz when she was barely 26. Her haunting memoir, Life? or Theater?, provides a graphic portrayal of her life through innovative transparencies and signature images. Its subtitle, singspiel, signifies it was a light opera.
![Wolfgang Tillmans Wolfgang Tillmans](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/wolfgang-tillmans-16918-1.jpg)
Wolfgang Tillmans is a German photographer best known for his diverse body of work. A highly acclaimed photographer, Tillmans has won many awards, such as the Hasselblad Award. In 2000, Wolfgang Tillmans became the first photographer and the first non-British person to be honored with the prestigious Turner Prize.
![Hannah Höch Hannah Höch](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/hannah-hch-1.jpg)
Apart from being the only female member of the Berlin Dada group, German artist Hannah Höch was also the pioneer of the photomontage form of art. Her works explored the sexually and financially independent New Woman and challenged gender stereotypes. She also experimented with textiles and patterns.
![Matthias Grünewald Matthias Grünewald](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/matthias-grnewald.jpg)
German Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald, also known as Master Mathis, was the court painter of the elector of Mainz. His drawings were mostly made in black chalk. Of his religious works, the Isenheim Altarpiece still survives, though most of his works were destroyed in the Thirty Years' War.
![Franz Xaver Winterhalter Franz Xaver Winterhalter](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/franz-xaver-winterhalter-1.jpg)
Born to a farmer in Germany’s Black Forest, Franz Xaver Winterhalter was initially trained as a lithographer. The nineteenth-century German painter later gained fame for his paintings and portraits of Europe’s royalty and aristocracy. Among his subjects were Queen Victoria of England and Elizabeth of Austria.
![Emil Nolde Emil Nolde](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/emil-nolde-16425-1.jpg)
German-Danish painter, watercolourist and printmaker Emil Nolde is counted among the first Expressionists and oil painting and watercolour painters of the early 20th-century who explored colour. He was a Die Brücke member and is noted for his expressive choice of colours, his brushwork, and his violent religious works. Notable works of Nolde include Lesende junge Frau and Blumen und Wolken.
![Hans Memling Hans Memling](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/hans-memling-1.jpg)
Hans Memling was a 15th-century painter who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He trained in the Brussels workshop of prominent painter Rogier van der Weyden. With time, he became one of the leading artists in the region and ran a large workshop. He was extremely successful and died a wealthy man.
![Gabriele Münter Gabriele Münter](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/gabriele-munter-55421-1.jpg)
Gabriele Munter was a German expressionist painter who led the Munich avant-garde movement in the early 20th century. She began to draw as a child and was supported in her ambitions by her parents. She went on to have a successful career and became a founding member of the expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter. She lived with painter Wassily Kandinsky.
![John Heartfield John Heartfield](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/john-heartfield-1.jpg)
John Heartfield was a German visual artist. He is credited to have pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. He used photomontages to satirize Adolf Hitler and depict his anti-Nazi and anti-fascist sentiments. He studied at the Royal Bavarian Arts and Crafts School and went on to launch a publishing house, Malik-Verlag, with his brother.
![August Macke August Macke](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/august-macke-1.jpg)
A leader of the Expressionist group The Blue Rider, German artist August Macke had initially drawn inspiration from his amateur artist father’s paintings. His works, such as Three Girls in a Barque, focused on human subjects and mingled German and French traditions. He was killed while fighting in World War I.
![Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/gloria-princess-of-thurn-and-taxis-1.jpg)
German socialite and philanthropist Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis, or Princess TNT, had met her husband, Prince Johannes, when she was 19 and he was 53. Following his death, she was faced with a $500 million debt, sold off her riches, and became a Catholic activist.
![Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/elsa-von-freytag-loringhoven-1.jpg)
Part of the German avant-garde movement and a prominent Dadaist, poet and artist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven is best remembered for her sound poetry and her posthumously published book Body Sweats. It is believed the famous urinal Fountain sculpture thought to be a work of Marcel Duchamp was actually created by Elsa.
![Max Liebermann Max Liebermann](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/max-liebermann-18320-1.jpeg)
Although considered the foremost promoter of Impressionism in Germany, painter and printmaker Max Liebermann never fully detached himself from his subject matters. Known for his works on the life and labor of the poor, including peasants, urban laborers, and orphans, portraying their plight through paintings like The Flax Spinners., he successfully maintained the narrative tradition of the German art.
![Lothar-Günther Buchheim Lothar-Günther Buchheim](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/lothar-gnther-buchheim-1.jpg)
![Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/georg-baselitz-1.jpg)
Georg Baselitz is a German painter, sculptor, and graphic artist known for his figurative, expressive paintings. He grew up in the wake of World War II, and the concept of destruction is an underlying theme seen in many of his works. He is known for inverting all his paintings. He is a recipient of the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
![Anni Albers Anni Albers](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/anni-albers-53848-1.jpg)
German-born American textile designer Anni Albers redefined textile arts in the 20th century. While studying painting initially, she had reluctantly joined a weaving workshop, considered a woman’s art back then, and ended up being inspired by it. She and her husband later fled to the U.S. to escape the Nazi regime.
![Heinrich Lossow Heinrich Lossow](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/no-profile-img.jpg)
![Peter Behrens Peter Behrens](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/peter-behrens-1.jpg)
Considered one of the pioneers of industrial design, German architect Peter Behrens had built his own house and all his furniture at the Darmstadt artists’ colony. The AEG Turbine Factory was one of his best-known works, and he had also designed their electric fans, lamps, and retail shops.
![Hans Bellmer Hans Bellmer](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/hans-bellmer.jpg)
German Surrealist artist Hans Bellmer is best known for his life-sized female dolls and erotic photography. He released the anonymous book Die Puppe. It is believed some of his dolls featured grotesque additions to reflect the Nazi obsession with perfection. He also collaborated with Unica Zürn for a bizarre photo series.
![Hermann Zapf Hermann Zapf](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/hermann-zapf-1.jpg)
![Lyonel Feininger Lyonel Feininger](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/lyonel-feininger.jpg)
![Emanuel Leutze Emanuel Leutze](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/emanuel-leutze-1.jpg)
![August Natterer August Natterer](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/no-profile-img.jpg)
![Wolfgang Joop Wolfgang Joop](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/wolfgang-joop-1.jpg)
![Carl Spitzweg Carl Spitzweg](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/carl-spitzweg-17083-1.jpg)
![Franz Stuck Franz Stuck](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/franz-stuck-1.jpg)
![August Sander August Sander](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/august-sander.jpg)
![Adolph Menzel Adolph Menzel](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/adolph-menzel-1.jpg)
![Hans Holbein the Elder Hans Holbein the Elder](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/hans-holbein-the-elder.jpg)
![Erich Heckel Erich Heckel](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/erich-heckel-1.jpg)
![Wilhelm Busch Wilhelm Busch](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/wilhelm-busch-1.jpg)
German artist and poet Wilhelm Busch is best remembered for pioneering the illustrations known as Bilderbogen, believed to have inspired the modern-day comic strip format. A qualified mechanical engineer, he later deviated to art. His best-known work remains Max und Moritz, which influenced The Katzenjammer Kids.
![Karl Diebitsch Karl Diebitsch](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/karl-diebitsch.jpg)