Illustration zu "Germinal"

1885–1886

Studies under Stauffer-Bern at the School for Women Artists

She began her formal art training in Berlin under Karl Stauffer-Bern, a friend of the artist Max Klinger. Klinger’s etchings, with their technique and social concerns, inspired her.

1888–1889

Munich: lessons with Herterich and the realisation that she is a draughtsman

In Munich she studied painting with Ludwig Herterich and realised that her strength lay not in painting but in drawing.

1888–1889

Engagement to Karl Kollwitz

While studying art in Munich she became engaged to Karl Kollwitz, to whom her brother had introduced her.

1890

Her first etchings

Her first etchings date from 1890, the technique in which she would later make sheets of The Weavers and the whole Peasant War cycle.

1890

Back in Königsberg: her first studio

In 1890 she returned to Königsberg, rented her first studio and went on depicting the harsh labour of the working class, a subject that inspired her work for years.