51.2310° N, 6.7725° E

DUSSELDORF

Most Famous People Born in Dusseldorf, Germany

Notable people
2,294
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1936
Most distinctive
Painter 3.9×

A Rhenish art academy city whose bench is thick with painters — more than ten per cent of all notables, a share matched by very few cities in the dataset. Düsseldorf's distinctive shelves beyond that are authors, academics, sculptors, economists, and historians, and its most famous son is Heinrich Heine. The Kunstakademie is the engine that produced Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter (who taught there), and a generation of photographers; Jürgen Habermas and Wim Wenders grew up here too.

Through the Centuries

One face per century — the most globally famous figure born in Dusseldorf during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 303 notable births.

What Dusseldorf Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Painter is Dusseldorf's biggest profession — 10% of all notables (234).

Dusseldorf over-indexes on painter3.9× the global rate.

Dusseldorf under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Painter234
  2. Actor189
  3. Politician176
  4. Football110
  5. Writer98
  6. Academic81
  7. Author74
  8. Lawyer51
  1. Painter2343.9×
  2. Author743.7×
  3. Academic813.5×
  4. Sculptor453.0×
  5. Economist242.5×
  6. Historian502.1×
  7. Architect402.0×
  8. Artist431.8×
  1. Football1100.4×
  2. Singer290.6×
  3. Politician1760.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Dusseldorf's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

155016001650170017501800185019001950
  • Art & Design
  • Writing
  • Politics & Law
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Science
  • Other
All2,294
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Showing 27 of 2,294 notable people

0038 COMPOSER

Norbert Burgmüller

1810 - 1836

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0044 LAWYER

Bernhard Windscheid

1817 - 1892

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0050 HISTORIAN

Heinrich von Sybel

1817 - 1895

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0067 PAINTER

Wilhelm Camphausen

1818 - 1885

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0166 SCULPTOR

Gustav Bläser

1813 - 1874

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0242 POLITICIAN

Andreas Gottschalk

1815 - 1849

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0243 JOURNALIST

Gustav Heine von Geldern

1812 - 1886

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0250 PAINTER

Lorenz Clasen

1812 - 1899

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0342 PAINTER

Eduard Wilhelm Pose

1812 - 1878

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0448 PAINTER

Carl Adloff

1819 - 1863

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0535 PAINTER

Wilhelm-Joseph Heine

1813 - 1839

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0667 ARCHITECT

Joseph Jonas Dumont

1811 - 1859

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0740 MILITAR

Lorenz Cantador

1810 - 1883

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0786 PAINTER

Carl Hilgers

1818 - 1890

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1258 POLITICIAN

Maximilian von Nesselrode-Ehreshoven

1817 - 1898

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1344 PAINTER

Joseph Wilms

1814 - 1892

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1454 PAINTER

Carl Clasen

1812 - 1886

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1479 PARLIAMENT

August von Spee

1813 - 1882

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1666 THEOLOGIAN

Leopold von Spee

1818 - 1882

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1674 KATHOLISCHER

Philipp von Berg

1816 - 1866

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1694 PAINTER

Joseph Minjon

1816 - 1898

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1705 NOTARY

Karl Leopold Strauven

1814 - 1886

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1771 PAINTER

Wilhelm Porttmann

1819 - 1893

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1882 POLITICIAN

Eduard Kühlwetter

1813 - 1897

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2146 PAINTER

Eduard Lotz

1818 - 1890

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2149 PAINTER

Carl Porttmann

1812 - 1894

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2289 PAINTER

Eduard von Hagens

1815 - 1849

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