Dieter Krieg studied from 1958 to 1962 at the Karlsruhe Art Academy under HAP Grieshaber and Herbert Kitzel. Krieg was - not least thanks to his teachers - among the most powerful and most individual painters of his generation. Along with Horst Antes and Walter Stöhrer, Krieg is an exponent of the "New Figuration" that countered the primacy of abstraction with representation of the human figure at that time. By 1966 Krieg had been awarded the Deutsche Preis der Jugend in Baden-Baden, which was followed by other prizes and distinctions. Not long afterwards he was awarded the Organisers' Prize at the Biennale Danuvius 68 in Bratislava as well as the Art Prizes of the cities of Bremen and Darmstadt.After participating in the Venice Biennale, Krieg was appointed professor in 1978 at the venerable and prestigious Düsseldorf Art Academy and held it for nearly twenty-five years. Honours such as the Karl Stöhrer Prize (1985) and the Hans Thoma Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg (1993), to name only two of many, were showered on Dieter Krieg in the years that followed. Dieter Krieg died on 26 November 2005. The Cologne Fine Art Prize was awarded to him posthumously in 2006.