At birth, Kurt Wanski and his twin brother were placed in a home for children. In 1927, they were confined to their mother and went to live with her in Berlin. A year later, Kurt Wanski integrated a school for children with developmental difficulties, where he learned to draw and play the harmonica. Teenager, he was placed in a foster home. From 1939 to 1945 he was imprisoned in Berlin for reasons that remain unknown. After the war, he returned to prison, but in April 1947, he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed as “oligophrenic with antisocial tendencies.” After several stays in various mental institutions, he was moved to St. Joseph Hospital in Berlin-Weissensee, where he remained until his death. There he began to draw extensively. He was inspired by everything he saw around him, images found in newspapers or magazines, as well as postcards or posters. His favorite themes were the circus, the zoo, the movies, East Germany celebrations. From 1980, his friends started to preserve his works and the first exhibition took place in 1984.