Rohlfs, the son of a farmer, was born on 22 December 1849 in Niendorf in Schleswig-Holstein. He began to draw while confined to bed during a long illness. In 1869 he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. A year later, encouraged by the poet Theodor Storm, he transferred to the renowned Grand-ducal School of Art in Weimar. In 1874 his right leg had to be amputated, which meant that he was unable to work for a long period of time. In 1881 he was finally able to set up his own studio at the art school in Weimar. His first exhibition was held in 1889. Meeting Karl-Ernst Osthaus, the founder of the Folkwang Museum, represented a turning point in Rohlfs' life, as Osthaus invited him to Hagen to run the painting school there. At Hagen he came into contact with highly gifted young artists who later made a name for themselves as members of the Berliner Sezession or Die Brücke. He became particularly friendly with the young Emil Nolde. At the invitation of the physician and art collector Commerel, Rohlfs lived and worked in Munich from 1910-1912. After the First World War he married Helene Vogt. During the 1920s the artist and his work were honoured with numerous exhibitions and awards. Nevertheless he was denounced as a 'degenerate' artist in 1933 and was later even forbidden to exhibit or sell his work. Rohlfs died on 8 January 1938 in Hagen.