Werner Büttner was born in 1954, Jena, Germany. He studied Law at Berlin Free University in 1973. He Moved to Hamburg in 1977, and worked with Georg  Herold, Martin Kippenberger and Albert Oehlen from 1977 to 1985. From 1989 to 2021, he was a Professor of Painting at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg. The artist currently lives and works in Geesthacht, Germany.

Werner Büttner's recent solo exhibitions include: He, Who Does Not Thrash Painting, Hates Painting!, Triumph Gallery, Beijing, 2025; Fool, Leaving the Shelter of Seclusion, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, 2025; Malerei 1981-2022, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, 2023; Werner Büttner, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, 2022; Analogies, Allegories and Metaphors of the Human Condition, Triumph Gallery, Beijing, 2022; Last Lecture Show, The Ranch, New York, 2022; Last Lecture Show, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburger, 2021; No Scene from My Studio, Simon Lee Gallery, London, 2021. Recent group exhibitions include: How’s my painting? Paintings from the Falckenberg Collection, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, 2025; Back then has always been now. Painting since 1947 reconsidered, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 2021; Works on paper 5, Max Weber Six Friedric, Munich, 2021; Büttner, Kippenberger & Oehlen: Trio Infernal, Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG, Zurich, 2020; Der Goldene Reiter in Faustrecht der Freiheit aka Fox and His Friends, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, 2020; Works on paper 4, Max Weber Six Friedric, Munich, 2020; Room enough for former teasers, Galerie Gisela Capitain, St. Apern Str., Cologne, 2020; Summer Exhibition, Marlborough Gallery, London,  2020; Works from the 1980s/Conceptual Photography, Marlborough Gallery, New York, 2020.

In addition, Büttner’s works are in many important collections, institutions and foundations, such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, USA; Cincinnati Art Museum, USA; FRAC Poitou- Charentes, France; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany; Mumok – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Austria; Harvard Art Museum, USA; Pinakothek der Moderne, Germany, and many more.