Hans Meid was born on June 3, 1883 in Pforzheim, Germany. Meid was a major leader of impressionism, along with his close friend Max Slevogt during the first decades of the twentieth century. After graduating from secondary school, he attended the arts and crafts school in Karlsruhe from 1899, and in 1900 he switched to the art academy there, where he became a student of the impressionist Wilhelm Trübner (1851–1917) and the realist Walter Conz (1872–1947). In 1907 the Meissen porcelain manufactory engaged him as a designer; In 1908 he gave up this activity and settled in Berlin as a freelance artist. His success can be seen in the Villa Romana Prize (1910) and membership in the Berlin Secession (1911).

In 1919 Meid became a printmaking teacher at the University of Fine Arts (from 1924: United State Schools for Free and Applied Arts) in Berlin. In 1927 he was elected a full member of the Prussian Academy of the Arts, with which, from 1934, he also headed a master's studio for graphics. He created 6 etchings for the first edition of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's one-act play The Troublesome in the Marsyas magazine. From 1910 onwards he created an extensive oeuvre in etching, lithography and other techniques, a large number of illustrations for works of world literature such as Cervantes ’Don Quixote,' Goethe's elective affinities and many others. From 1922 he added on ink drawing, watercolor and oil painting to his skills. He designed book covers for 44 publishers (in particular Schünemann and S. Fischer).

In 1943, Meid's house in Berlin-Steglitz was destroyed during the war. After 1945 he settled in Gereuth, Franconia, but then accepted an invitation from the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart in 1948, where he taught until 1951. In 1953 the university made him an honorary member. In 1956, Meid received the Hans Thoma Prize from the state of Baden-Württemberg. The years up to his death he lived (on the mediation of Theodor Heuss) in Ludwigsburg Palace. Hans Meid was a member of the German Association of Artists. Hans Meid died on January 6, 1957 in Ludwigsburg, Germany.