Walter Schnackenberg was a versatile artist. In addition to being a genre and figure painter, he was also a lithographer, designed posters and made set and costume designs for theater and ballet. In his predominantly large paintings and watercolours, he prefers to show the world of theatre, cabaret and variety shows: barmaids painted loosely, fashionable women in the evening toilet, fashionable audience in a box. As the son of the mayor of Bad Lauterburg in Bavaria, he went to Munich at the age of 19 to study painting. He then studied at the Düsseldorf Academy with Franz von Stuck. After a stay in Berlin and a study trip through Europe (1905), he spent a year in Paris, where he met Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. His work would have a lasting influence on his style and choice of subject.