He worked as a school art teacher, from 1971 in Düsseldorf (other accounts give 1969–1980), and afterwards as a free artist holding visiting professorships across Europe.
1970s
Friendship and joint work with A. R. Penck
A close friendship tied Immendorff to the Dresden painter A. R. Penck from East Germany. Together they worked on pieces about relations between the two Germanys.
second half of the 1970s
Turns to history painting
From the second half of the 1970s he turns to history painting and moves closer to the Neue Wilde movement.