[1] He was impressed by the sculptures of Auguste Rodin, and traveled to England, Italy, the Netherlands, and Paris.

He frequented the Café du Dôme,[4] where he met sculptors such as Modigliani, Brâncuși, and Archipenko.

There he made contact with the socialist, L. Rubiner, who collaborated on Franz Pfemfert's Die Aktion.

His works, including female nudes, are marked by a sense of melancholy and an elongation of form common to Gothic architecture.

Throughout his career, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe placed his friend Lehmbruck's sculptures and those of Aristide Maillol into his buildings and designs.