Philipp Otto Runge was born as the ninth of ten children in Wolgast (West Pomerania). Runge's parents were wealthy Protestants. After schooling Runge started training as a merchant in Hamburg. After 1797 the artist took drawing classes with Joachim Herterich. After some time Runge finally decided to become a painter. He started to study at Copenhagen Academy in 1799. Runge returned to Wolgast in 1801. Soon afterwards he met Caspar David Friedrich and moved to Dresden. In 1803, he engaged with Pauline Bassenge with his father's consent. They married in Dresden on 3 April, 1804. His son Sigismund was born in the same month. During this time he created numerous pictures in large format, among others "Die Hülsenbeckschen Kinder". The Runge family returned to Wolgast the following year. In 1809 Runge's son Gustav Ludwig Bernhard was born. One year later, in 1810, the publishing house Perthes-Verlag published his paper 'Die Farbenkugel' (The Color Sphere). After March 1810 Runge suffered from tuberculosis. The artist died at the age of 33 on 2 December, 1810.