Albrecht Durer was a German painter, theorist, and printmaker of the German Renaissance. During his 20s, Durer established his reputation as a popular printmaker across Europe, thanks to his high-quality woodcut prints. His popularity enabled him to work with major Italian artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Giovanni Bellini, and Raphael. Albrecht Durer also influenced generations of artists, especially in printmaking.
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.
Caspar David Friedrich was a German painter best remembered for painting mid-period allegorical landscapes. Widely regarded as the most important German painter of his era, Friedrich is celebrated as an important figure of the German Romantic movement. His works have influenced several painters, including Johan Christian Dahl, Arnold Böcklin, and Christiane Pooley.
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German printmaker and painter. Regarded as one of the 16th century's greatest portraitists, Holbein was also renowned for producing Reformation propaganda, satire, and religious art. Many of his portraits are now considered cultural icons. Holbein is also credited with contributing immensely to the evolution of book design.
![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.
![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.
![Joseph Beuys Joseph Beuys](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/joseph-beuys-1.jpg)
It is believed Joseph Beuys was rescued by Tartars when his air force plane broke down in Crimea during World War II. He later gained fame as an avant-garde sculptor and artist and part of the group Fluxus. His works used unconventional media, with some even including staged actions.
![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.
![Jean Arp Jean Arp](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/jean-arp-32243-1.jpg)
Jean Arp was born in Strasbourg, to a German father and a French mother. After studying art in Paris and Switzerland, he co-created The Modern Alliance and participated in the Dada and Abstraction-Création movements. An avant-garde painter and sculptor, he also experimented with media such as embroidery.
![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.
![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.
![Karl Wallenda Karl Wallenda](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/karl-wallenda-1.jpg)
![Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/lucas-cranach-the-elder-1.jpg)
German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder enriched the German Renaissance with his paintings and wood engravings. A court painter of the Electors of Saxony, he specialized in painting both nudes and ladies in fine clothing, and mostly depicted biblical and mythological themes. He also inspired the Danube school of Austria.
![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)
![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.
![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.
![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.
![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.
![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.
![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.
![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.
![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.
![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.
![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.
![Karl Blossfeldt Karl Blossfeldt](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/karl-blossfeldt-1.jpg)
Karl Blossfeldt was a German photographer, artist, sculptor, and teacher. He is best remembered for his work Urformen der Kunst, a collection of close-up photos of animals and plants. The book became highly influential and Blossfeldt's works were used as teaching tools in Berlin. Blossfeldt also served as a professor at the United State Schools for Fine and Applied Art.
![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.
![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.
![Méret Oppenheim Méret Oppenheim](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/mret-oppenheim.jpg)
![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.
![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.
![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.
![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.
![Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/karl-friedrich-schinkel-1.jpg)
Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian painter, city planner, and architect. One of the most important architects of Germany, Schinkel designed both neogothic and neoclassical buildings. Apart from designing buildings, Karl Friedrich Schinkel also designed stage sets and furniture.
![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.
![Hermann Zapf Hermann Zapf](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/hermann-zapf-1.jpg)
![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.
![Heinrich Lossow Heinrich Lossow](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/no-profile-img.jpg)
![Margret Rey Margret Rey](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/margret-rey-1.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.
![Emanuel Leutze Emanuel Leutze](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/emanuel-leutze-1.jpg)
![Lyonel Feininger Lyonel Feininger](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/lyonel-feininger.jpg)