Born in 1938 and raised in the Saxon village of Deutschbaselitz in the district of Bautzen, the German-Austrian painter, sculptor and graphic artist Georg Baselitz (real name Hans-Georg Kern) is one of the most internationally renowned contemporary artists.

The central theme of his figurative-expressive works is destruction and order, often mixed with autobiographical traits. As a young adult, he became acquainted with the repressive state doctrine of the GDR. After just two semesters at the Academy of Fine and Applied Arts in East Berlin, he was expelled from the country for "socio-political immaturity". After studying art in West Berlin, Baselitz left behind the socialist realism of the GDR with its typecast heroes and its heroization of work. He enthusiastically turned to new trends from the USA such as Tachism, Abstraction and Action Painting. Baselitz found lasting inspiration above all in the free, radical and impetuous working methods of abstract expressionism, which emphasized the process of creation and the effect of color and "painting as action". Baselitz saw this as an outlet for renouncing social constraints. From 1969, Baselitz turned the pictorial motif around 180 degrees. Baselitz thus not only broke with traditional painting in Germany, but also developed a new direction in figurative art at a time when abstraction was regarded as a global language.

Despite being widely regarded as the quintessential German “prince of painters,” printmaking plays an equal role alongside painting in Baselitz’s body of work and is considered a medium of expression in its own right. Beginning in 1964, he created etchings, as well as linocuts and woodcuts, though to a much lesser extent. His explorations in printmaking build on existing themes from his painting, yet with their own distinct artistic merit. Baselitz’s work also work stage designs and sculptures.

From 1977 to 1983, Baselitz held a professorship at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe; from 1983 to 1988 and from 1992 to 2003, he was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts.