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 39 of 2,294 notable people

0025 PHILOSOPHER

Paul Natorp

1854 - 1924

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0057 ARCHITECT

Bruno Schmitz

1858 - 1916

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0132 PAINTER

Otto Hupp

1859 - 1949

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0133 PAINTER

Leopold Graf von Kalckreuth

1855 - 1928

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0168 WRITER

Felix Schumann

1854 - 1879

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0194 LINGUIST

Georg Wenker

1852 - 1911

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0213 EXPLORER

Eugen Zintgraff

1858 - 1897

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0233 OPERATIC

Max Alvary

1856 - 1898

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0244 SCULPTOR

Karl Janssen

1855 - 1927

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0301 PAINTER

Olof Jernberg

1855 - 1935

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0321 PAINTER

Nils Gude

1859 - 1908

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0395 PIANIST

Eugenie Schumann

1851 - 1938

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0420 LITHOGRAPHER

Fritz Reiss

1857 - 1915

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0612 PAINTER

Clara Ewald

1859 - 1948

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0674 ACADEMIC

Carl Crome

1859 - 1931

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0728 PAINTER

Wilhelm Beckmann (Maler)

1852 - 1942

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0854 PAINTER

Heinrich Böhmer (Maler)

1852 - 1907

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0960 PAINTER

Konrad Lessing

1852 - 1916

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0978 ARCHITECT

Leo von Abbema

1852 - 1929

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1035 PAINTER

Theodor Groll (Maler)

1857 - 1913

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1135 PAINTER

Fritz Lange (Maler)

1851 - 1922

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1261 LEUTNANT

Adolf von Westarp

1854 - 1925

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1278 PAINTER

Martha von Stuckrad

1854 - 1930

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1327 PAINTER

Heinrich Lessing

1856 - 1930

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1331 PAINTER

August Hermann Knoop

1856 - 1900

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1518 JOURNALIST

Johannes Fusangel

1852 - 1910

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1611 PAINTER

Ernst Schmitz (Maler)

1859 - 1917

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1614 ARCHITECT

Ernst Roeting

1857 - 1917

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1676 PAINTER

Georg Schmitz (Maler)

1851 - 1917

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1691 PAINTER

Heinrich Wieschebrink

1852 - 1885

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1736 ARCHITECT

Rudolf Tillessen

1857 - 1926

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1782 PAINTER

Otto Leu

1855 - 1922

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1814 POLITICIAN

Karl Ortmann

1859 - 1914

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1889 ARTIST

Anton Schmitz (Maler)

1855 - 1935

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1893 PAINTER

Carl Schultze (Maler)

1856 - 1926

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1927 MISSING

Emil Schrödter

1855 - 1928

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2018 PAINTER

August Leu (Maler, 1852)

1852 - 1876

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2129 SINGER

Jakob Hübner

Born 1859

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2207 PAINTER

Paul Wilhelmi (Maler)

1858 - 1943

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