Paul (Oskar) Oscar Droege, printmaker and painter, was born in Hamburg, Germany on January 10, 1898, to Franzisko and Melita Droege. In 1905, his family relocated to the town of Waren located at the northern end of Lake Muritz. Droege attended public school in Waren and it appears that he was less than an ideal student.

In fall of 1916, Droege reported for military service and was a soldier in the Germany army in World War I, serving in France and Russia. After the war, he studied with Professor Hans Kohlschein at the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony, which was founded in 1899 by Ernest Louis, the Grand Duke of Hesse. Droege also studied at the Düsseldorf Academy but it was Leopold Karl Walter Graft von Kalckreuth, painter and graphic artist, who influenced Droege to turn to color woodcut in the early 1920s. In the late 1920s, Droege befriended the artist Werner Lange and the two traveled via bicycle and paddleboats through Germany, France and Scandinavia searching for subject matter.

On June 20, 1940, Droege was recalled into the military to serve in the German army and, in 1948, after the end of World War II, he was released from Russian captivity. In the 1950s, Droege resumed his traveling, this time throughout Central Germany and later he traveled to Switzerland and Paris. In the 1960s Droege returned to painting with watercolors and, in 1962, he relocated to Hamburg having inherited a mansion there.

Paul Oscar Droege died in Hamburg on October 8, 1983.