Bernhard Heisig was born in 1925 in Breslau (today Wrocław, Poland). From 1949 to 1951 he studied at the University of Applied Art in Leipzig. From 1961 to 1964 he was director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig. In 1968 he left the Academy. In 1972 he was nominated as a member of the Academy of Arts of the GDR. From 1976 to 1987 he was rector of the Academy in Leipzig. In 1977 he took part in documenta 6. In 1989 Heisig resigned from all his positions and returned the National Prize awards that he had won. In the 1990s he was involved in the artistic design of the Bundestag (parliament building) in Berlin. In 2010 he received the honorary prize of the Brandenburg Art Prize. In 2011 Heisig died in Strodehne (Brandenburg).