Hofer's art is filled with disillusionment and pessimism, expressing his dark vision of modern life through a limited range of themes that the artist repeated obsessively. Born in Karlsruhe, Hofer settled in Berlin in 1913. Condemned by the Nazis as a "degenerate artist," in 1933 he was dismissed from his teaching post. In 1943 Hofer's studio and most of his work were destroyed by bombing.