Painter and printmaker Walter Richard Rehn was born in Dresden, Germany, in 1884. He trained as a porcelain painter at a manufacturer in Meissen before enrolling at the Kunstgewerbeschule and the Akademie der Kunste, both in Dresden, where he studied under Carl Bantzer, Richard Muller, and Oskar Zwintscher.

Rehn was known for his symbolist works and portrayals of the human condition. He worked in etching as well as lithography. From 1910 to around 1930 he worked primarily as a printmaker before focuing on painting, until his death in 1951 in Dresden.