Karl Christian Ludwig Hofer or Carl Hofer (11 October 1878, Karlsruhe – 3 April 1955, Berlin) was a German expressionist painter. He was director of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. One of the most prominent painters of expressionism, he never was a member of one of the expressionist painting groups, like "Die Brücke", but was influenced by their painters. His work was among those considered degenerate art by the Nazis, but after World War II he regained recognition as one of the leading German painters. Life Hofer was born in 1878 in Karlsruhe. Four weeks after his birth, his father, the military musician Karl Friedrich Hofer, died of a lung disease. Since his mother Ottilie had to earn a living, Karl was housed in 1879 with two great aunts, before he went to live in an orphanage (1884-1892). At the age of 14 Karl began a bookshop apprenticeship, which he completed three years later. In 1896 he met the three years younger German philosopher Leopold Ziegler. In 1897 Hofer began studying painting at the Art Academy of Karlsruhe. His talent was recognized early, he received a scholarship from the fund of the Grand Duke of Baden. After the appointment of the painter Hans Thoma to the Karlsruhe Academy of Art, in 1899, Hofer became his pupil. In the same year he had his first stay in Paris. In the year of his second stay in Paris in 1900 he made the acquaintance of Julius Meier-Graefe. Hofer became a student of Thoma in 1901 and a year later a student of the painter Leopold von Kalckreuth at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. During this time he began his friendship with the sculptor Hermann Haller. In 1903, Karl Hofer and Mathilde Scheinberger married in Vienna. Mathilde belonged to a Jewish family, but was not educated in the Jewish faith and later joined the Protestant church. The couple had three sons, Karl Johannes Arnold, called Carlino, born in 1904, Titus Wolfgang, born in 1905, who died in 1906, and Hans-Rudi, born in 1911. In 1902 Hofer concluded a five-year contract with the Swiss entrepreneur and patron Theodor Reinhart, in which it was agreed a regular support. In return, Reinhart received each year at first three and later four paintings by Hofer. The contract was later extended by five years until 1913. Reinhart's scholarship enabled Karl and Mathilde to move