Franz Müller-Gossen (1871-1946)

The German painter Franz Müller-Gossen studied at the Kunstschule in Dusseldorf between 1886-89 and, after an extensive European tour, settled in St Ives in 1890. He studied in Cornwall under Stanhope Forbes and Julius Olsson and he considered the region 'essential for his art and happiness'.

He developed a considerable reputation as a marine painter and exhibited widely all over Europe, America and Japan. In 1902, Kaiser Wilhelm II and his wife paid an official visit to Müller-Gossen’s studio in Munich where they purchased nine paintings, marking the start of the Kaiser's important patronage. The Wharf, St Ives is in the collection of The Royal Cornwall Museum.