Born to ceramic potter Gisela Struth and bank director Heinrich Struth in Geldern, Germany,[REF] Struth trained at the Düsseldorf Academy from 1973 until 1980 where he initially studied painting under Peter Kleemann and, from 1974, Gerhard Richter.
In 2007, Struth married author Tara Bray Smith in New York [REF].