Had a long-term relationship (1912 until his death) with Erna Schilling.
From 3 August to 10 November 2008, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held a major exhibition that "probably comprises the very best of his oeuvre.".
His work was branded as "degenerate" by the Nazis in 1933, and in 1937 more than 600 of his works were sold or destroyed.
He volunteered for army service in the First World War, but soon suffered a breakdown and was discharged.
He was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-century art.