Philipp Franck was born on 9 April 1860 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was an impressionist painter and graphic artist who initially studied architecture before following his true passion for art. At the age of seventeen, he enrolled at the Städelschule, where he excelled with landscapes and illustrations of fairy tales.
In 1879, he joined the artists’ colony in Kronberg and later studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. After several moves, including a stay in Würzburg, Franck settled in Berlin, where he became a teacher and helped found the Berlin Secession. In 1906, he tried to set up an artists’ colony in Halensee, but to no avail.
Franck died on 13 March 1944 in Berlin. His artistic legacy and memories were preserved in his book Ein Leben für die Kunst (“A Life for Art”), published after his death.
