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
Sort By

Showing 31 of 2,294 notable people

0024 PAINTER

Oswald Achenbach

1827 - 1905

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0073 ACADEMIC

Franz Grashof

1826 - 1893

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0180 COMPOSER

Julius Eichberg

1824 - 1893

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0199 WRITER

Prince George of Prussia

1826 - 1902

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0463 SCHOLAR

Franz Philip Kaulen

1827 - 1907

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0605 POLITICIAN

Franz Josef von Gruben

1829 - 1888

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0971 PAINTER

Friedrich Hiddemann

1829 - 1892

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1180 POLITICIAN

Felix von Loë

1825 - 1896

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1347 PHILOLOGIST

Wilhelm Schmitz (Philologe)

1828 - 1898

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1355 PAINTER

Theodor Hamacher

1825 - 1865

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1365 ARTIST

Otto Arnz

1823 - 1860

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1433 PAINTER

Wilhelm Klein (Maler)

1821 - 1897

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1434 MISSING

Alfred von Hatzfeldt

1825 - 1911

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1485 ARCHITECT

Franz Deckers

1826 - 1908

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1552 PAINTER

Joseph Bernardi

1826 - 1907

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1583 PHILOLOGIST

Joseph Krebs

1823 - 1890

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1665 PAINTER

Julius Bayerle

1826 - 1873

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1683 PAINTER

Philipp Schmitz (Maler)

1824 - 1887

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1696 LAWYER

Alexander von Sybel

1823 - 1902

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1709 PAINTER

Franz Kels

1828 - 1893

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1712 CHAMBERLAIN

Ferdinand von Hompesch-Bollheim (Diplomat)

1824 - 1913

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1803 ENGRAVER

Heinrich Nüsser

1821 - 1883

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1860 THEOLOGIAN

Caspar Anton Heuser

1822 - 1891

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1915 BEAMTE

Gustav Bournye

1823 - 1858

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1946 ACTOR

Josef Julius Straßmann

1822 - 1889

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1990 BUSINESS

Julius Schimmelbusch

1826 - 1881

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2005 PAINTER

Alfred Breitenstein

1828 - 1853

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2226 LEUTNANT

Friedrich von Strantz (General, 1829)

1829 - 1897

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2241 LAWYER

Gustav Eschborn

1824 - 1902

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2253 FARMER

Alfred von Nesselrode

1824 - 1867

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2261 LAWYER

August Courth

1824 - 1903

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