Jörg Immendorff is born in Bleckede near Lüneburg on June 14, 1945. He begins his studies of stage art at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under Theo Otto in 1963, changing after three semesters to the art class of Joseph Beuys in 1964. He teaches art at a general school from 1968 to 1980. Besides teaching, he works as an artist, initiating numerous art events, usually with a political focus.
Several art happenings take place in the years between 1968 and 1970, the so-called "Lidl"-actions, developed by Immendorff in co-operation with the artist Chris Reinecke. Jörg Immendorff mets A.R. Penck in East Berlin in fall in 1976, together they form the "Kollektiv Immendorff-Penck". The artists from East and West Germany commit themselves to record political issues in their pictures. They meet again in East Berlin on May 1, 1977 and organize several joint actions and exhibitions in the following years. Jörg Immendorff begins working on a series of 16 large-sized paintings called "Café Deutschland" in 1977 and visits A.R. Penck in Dresden two years later.
He is regarded as one of Germany's most important artists, who is also internationally acknowledged, as of around 1980.
He is guest lecturer at the Stockholm School of Art in 1981 and teaches at the Hamburg School of Fine Arts a year later, at the same time he also teaches the Class F+F in Zurich. Lectureships in Cologne and at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts follow in 1984. In 1989 he is professor at the Städelschule in Frankfurt and a year later at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In 1997 he lectures at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tianjin in China.
Jörg Immendorff also does several stage and costume designs for operas such as for "Elektra" by Richard Strauss im Bremen in 1986 and in 1994 for the opera "The rakes progress" by Igor Strawinsky in the course of the Salzburg Festival.
Jörg Immendorff shows works at numerous exhibitions as of the 1970s. He participates in the documenta in Kassel in both 1972 and 1982, and also in the Venice Biennale in 1976. His works are also part of the traveling exhibition "Expressions: New Art from Germany" in 1983/84, visiting, among others, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Oslo and Malmö. His most important works are on display in the exhibition "Deutschlandbilder: Kunst aus einem geteilten Land" (German Pictures: Art from a divided country) in Berlin in 1997. Large one-man shows are set up in, for instance, New York, St. Petersburg, Peking, Cologne and Chicago.
Numerous awards follow, e.g. Immendorff is appointed member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in Salzburg in 1997. He is honored with the Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Cross of Merit)in 1998 and the Goslar Kaiserring in 2006.
Jörg Immendorff dies in Düsseldorf on May 28, 2007 of a long and severe illness.