Paul Wunderlich was born in Eberswalde in Mark Brandenburg, Germany, on March 10, 1927. From 1947 to 1951 he studied at what later became the 'Hochschule für Bildende Künste' in Hamburg in Willi Titze's class for 'Free Graphics'. Among his fellow students were Horst Janssen and Reinhard Drenkhahn. In 1950 Wunderlich studied under Willem Grimms for a semester. Having finished his studies, Wunderlich himself taught etching and lithography techniques at the school from 1951 to 1960. In 1951 Wunderlich printed Emil Nolde's etching 'Der König und seine Mannen' for the artist, followed by eleven of Oskar Kokoschka's lithographies for his narrative 'Ann Eliza Reed' a year later. In 1957 Paul Wunderlich painted tachist paintings, most of which he later destroyed, leaving only a few.