From 1873 to 1880, he attended the elementary school in Hattenhofen, where the Pastor discovered that he had talent for drawing and arranged for him to take lessons at Göppingen.
Jakob Grünenwald was one of his instructors; his fellow students included Christian Landenberger and Bernhard Buttersack.
He took a study trip to Italy in the summer of 1890 and, after his military service, went to the Dachau District where his interests changed from genre painting to landscapes.
From 1906 to 1913, he was a member of the Luitpold Group,[1] an association of slightly modernist tendencies that promoted high-quality art, then he returned to the Secession.
He died of a stroke and is buried in the Old North Cemetery, Munich.