Culture Famous Artists from Germany

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List of the most popular artists from Germany, listed alphabetically with photos when available. Be sure to also check out weird quirks of history's greatest artists and famous surrealist artists. For centuries artists have been among the world's most important people, helping chronicle history and keeping us entertained with one of the earliest forms of entertainment. Whether they're known for painting, sculpting, etching or drawing, the famous German artists on this list have kept that tradition alive by creating renowned pieces of art that have been praised around the world. You can find useful information below about these notable German artists, such as when they were born and where their place of birth was.

This list below has everything from Paul Klee to Hans Bellmer. Whether you're looking for great German painters, contemporary artists, or sculptors, you'll surely find the most renown below.

This list answers the questions, "Which famous artists are from Germany?" and "Who are the most well-known German artists?"

For further information on these historic German artists, click on their names. If you're a fine art lover use this list of celebrated German artists to discover some new paintings that you will enjoy.

1

Paul Klee Angelus Novus, Revolution des Viadukts, Der Goldfisch
Paul Klee was a Swiss-German painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who ...more

2

Hans Bellmer The Machine Gun(neress) in a State of Grace, La Poupee, The Doll
Hans Bellmer was a German artist, best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. Historians of art and photography also consider him a Surrealist

3

Lucian Freud Two Japanese Wrestlers by a Sink, Woman with a Daffodil, Girl with a White Dog
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a German-born British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impastoed portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of ...more

4

Lyonel Feininger Longeuil, Normandie, Spook I
Lyonel Charles Feininger was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York ...more

5

Joseph Beuys Lightning with Stag in its Glare, The End of the Twentieth Century, 7000 Oaks
Joseph Beuys was a German Fluxus, happening and performance artist as well as a sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art. His extensive work is grounded ...more

6

Caspar David Friedrich Moonrise Over the Sea, Wreck in the Ice-sea, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog
Caspar David Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period ...more

7

Max Ernst The Elephant Celebes, Napoleon in the Wilderness, Aquis Submersus
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism.

8

Albrecht Dürer Christ among the Doctors, Altarpiece of Ober-St. Veit, Lamentation for Christ
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His high-quality woodcuts established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was ...more

9

Hans Hartung T1974- E10, T 1966–H36, T1989-A1 38-0
Hans Hartung was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the French Foreign Legion.

10

Andrew Dasburg Improvisation, November in New Mexico
Andrew Michael Dasburg was an American modernist painter and "one of America's leading early exponents of cubism".

11

Hermann Hesse Lago Maggiore, Casa Bodmer, Piktors Verwandlungen
Hermann Hesse was a German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search ...more

12

Hans Holbein the Younger Portrait of Henry VIII, Noli me Tangere, Portrait of Robert Cheseman
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced ...more

13

Hans Hofmann City Horizon, Fruit Bowl with Apples, Table--Version II
Hans Hofmann was a German-born American abstract expressionist painter.

14

Lucas Cranach the Elder Rest of the Virgin during The Flight into Egypt, The Golden Age, A Princess of Saxony
Lucas Cranach the Elder was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his ...more

15

Sebastian Stoskopff
Sebastian Stoskopff was an Alsatian painter. He is considered one of the most important German still life painters of his time. His works, which were rediscovered after 1930, portray goblets, ...more

16

Master MS
Master M. S. was a 16th-century painter who specialized in late Gothic art and in early Renaissance art. He was active in Banská Štiavnica and probably led a workshop there. Since his ...more

17

Matthias Grünewald The Small Cruxifixion, The Mocking of Christ, Stuppach Madonna
Matthias Grünewald was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the expressive and intense style of late medieval Central European art ...more

18

Lucas Cranach the Younger Last Supper
Lucas Cranach the Younger was a German Renaissance artist, known for his woodcuts and paintings.

19

Stefan Jäger
Stefan Jäger was a painter known for his depiction of and deep identification with the Danube Swabian community to which he belonged. There are some grounds for categorising him as a ...more

20

Hans Holbein the Elder Basilica of St. Mary, Basilica of St. Paul, St. Catherine Altar
Hans Holbein the Elder was a German painter.

21

Hans Baldung Dürer's Rhinoceros, Knight, Death and the Devil
Hans Baldung Grien or Grün was a German artist in painting and printmaking who was considered the most gifted student of Albrecht Dürer. Throughout his lifetime, Baldung developed a ...more

22

Jacob Marrel
Jacob Marrel was a German still life painter active in Utrecht during the Dutch Golden Age.

23

Max Wolf Sternkarten (Star Map), from Photographische Sternkarten ...
Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was Chairman of Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and Director of the ...more

24

Jan Boeckhorst
Jan Boeckhorst, was a German-born Flemish Baroque painter whose style was heavily influenced by Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens.

25

Georg Flegel
Georg Flegel was a German painter, best known for his still life works.

1 Paul Klee Angelus Novus, Revolution des Viadukts, Der Goldfisch Paul Klee was a Swiss-German painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who ...more

2 Hans Bellmer The Machine Gun(neress) in a State of Grace, La Poupee, The Doll Hans Bellmer was a German artist, best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. Historians of art and photography also consider him a Surrealist

3 Lucian Freud Two Japanese Wrestlers by a Sink, Woman with a Daffodil, Girl with a White Dog Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a German-born British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impastoed portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of ...more

4 Lyonel Feininger Longeuil, Normandie, Spook I Lyonel Charles Feininger was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York ...more

5 Joseph Beuys Lightning with Stag in its Glare, The End of the Twentieth Century, 7000 Oaks Joseph Beuys was a German Fluxus, happening and performance artist as well as a sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art. His extensive work is grounded ...more

6 Caspar David Friedrich Moonrise Over the Sea, Wreck in the Ice-sea, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog Caspar David Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period ...more

7 Max Ernst The Elephant Celebes, Napoleon in the Wilderness, Aquis Submersus Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism.

8 Albrecht Dürer Christ among the Doctors, Altarpiece of Ober-St. Veit, Lamentation for Christ Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His high-quality woodcuts established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was ...more

9 Hans Hartung T1974- E10, T 1966–H36, T1989-A1 38-0 Hans Hartung was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the French Foreign Legion.

10 Andrew Dasburg Improvisation, November in New Mexico Andrew Michael Dasburg was an American modernist painter and "one of America's leading early exponents of cubism".

11 Hermann Hesse Lago Maggiore, Casa Bodmer, Piktors Verwandlungen Hermann Hesse was a German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search ...more

12 Hans Holbein the Younger Portrait of Henry VIII, Noli me Tangere, Portrait of Robert Cheseman Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced ...more

13 Hans Hofmann City Horizon, Fruit Bowl with Apples, Table--Version II Hans Hofmann was a German-born American abstract expressionist painter.

15 Sebastian Stoskopff Sebastian Stoskopff was an Alsatian painter. He is considered one of the most important German still life painters of his time. His works, which were rediscovered after 1930, portray goblets, ...more

16 Master MS Master M. S. was a 16th-century painter who specialized in late Gothic art and in early Renaissance art. He was active in Banská Štiavnica and probably led a workshop there. Since his ...more

17 Matthias Grünewald The Small Cruxifixion, The Mocking of Christ, Stuppach Madonna Matthias Grünewald was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the expressive and intense style of late medieval Central European art ...more

18 Lucas Cranach the Younger Last Supper Lucas Cranach the Younger was a German Renaissance artist, known for his woodcuts and paintings.

19 Stefan Jäger Stefan Jäger was a painter known for his depiction of and deep identification with the Danube Swabian community to which he belonged. There are some grounds for categorising him as a ...more

20 Hans Holbein the Elder Basilica of St. Mary, Basilica of St. Paul, St. Catherine Altar Hans Holbein the Elder was a German painter.

21 Hans Baldung Dürer's Rhinoceros, Knight, Death and the Devil Hans Baldung Grien or Grün was a German artist in painting and printmaking who was considered the most gifted student of Albrecht Dürer. Throughout his lifetime, Baldung developed a ...more

22 Jacob Marrel Jacob Marrel was a German still life painter active in Utrecht during the Dutch Golden Age.

23 Max Wolf Sternkarten (Star Map), from Photographische Sternkarten ... Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was Chairman of Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and Director of the ...more

24 Jan Boeckhorst Jan Boeckhorst, was a German-born Flemish Baroque painter whose style was heavily influenced by Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens.

25 Georg Flegel Georg Flegel was a German painter, best known for his still life works.