Josef Bachler grew up in an orphanage, his mother having probably died as a result of childbirth. He lived with several foster families, one of which owned a farm where he had to work hard after school. Returning to the orphanage, he became an apprentice roofer and practiced this trade for several years.
During the Anschluss in 1938, he was sent—for unknown reasons—to the Dachau concentration camp, where he remained until 1945. After the war, he resumed his work as a roofer and got married. Problems of alcoholism and violence then emerged, leading to his hospitalization in the psychiatric institution of Gugging Psychiatric Clinic. He spent the last nine years of his life there, under the care of Leo Navratil. He produced simple figures, in small formats, using pencil, and only rarely colored pencils.