Robert Koehler  (1850-1917)

Robert Koehler was born in Hamburg, Germany, but spent his childhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  When he was fifteen he was apprenticed to a firm of lithographers.  In 1871 Koehler moved to Pittsburgh and then to New York, where he attended classes at the National Academy of Design and at the Art Students League.  From 1873-1875 he studied at the Munich Academy of fine Arts under Ludwig von Lofftz.  Koehler returned to New York in 1875 to continue studying at the Art Students League.

In 1879 Robert Koehler returned to Munich. There Koehler becme president of the Munich Artist Association, on whose behalf he organized the American section of the International Art Exhibition in 1883 and 1888.

Koehler returned to New York in 1892 and in 1893, moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to fill the position of Director of the Minneapolis School of Art.  He remained the director until his death.  While Koehler was in Minneapolis, many of his paintings depicted scenes in Minneapolis homes and Hennepin Avenue.