Attersee was born on 28 August 1940 in Press-burg (present-day Bratislava) as Christian Ludwig. He spent his youth in Aschach on the Danube, in Linz and near the Attersee, the lake which provided him with his pseudonym. Attersee was an excellent yachtsman and while a young man took part in various regattas. In 1957 he began to study stage design at the University of Applied Art in Vienna, but in 1959 changed to painting. Attersee is regarded as one of the most versatile artists in Austria. Apart from his work as a painter, he is a musician, writer, object-maker and designer and has also produced films and designed stage sets. Of the many exhibitions that Attersee has participated in, the most important were documenta 4 in Kassel in 1977 and the Venice Biennale in 1984. Since the beginning of the 1980s retrospective exhibitions of his work have been held at various museums across Europe. In 1990 Attersee was made a professor at the University of Applied Art in Vienna and in 1992 he took over the master classes for painting, animated film and tapestry there. Attersee lives and works in St Martin on the Raab in Burgenland, at Semmering and in Vienna.