Koehler was born in
Hamburg; his family spelled their name
Köhler until they moved to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1854. There he attended the historic
German-English Academy. He graduated from the academy in 1865, but continued his lessons with the school's drawing master,
Henry Vianden, who had graduated from
Munich's Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He apprenticed himself to a
lithography firm. In 1871, he went to
New York City for eye surgery, and stayed to work as a lithographer. After studying drawing in the night classes of the
National Academy of Design, Koehler went to
Munich to study fine art at the Royal Academy in 1873, studying with
Karl von Piloty and
Ludwig Thiersch. He returned to New York after two years because of depleted funds. In 1879, he was able to return to Munich with means furnished by George Ehret, of New York, whose attention had been drawn to the young artists's ambition and capabilities. On his second trip, he studied under
Ludwig Löfftz and
Franz Defregger. His friendships with
William Merritt Chase and
Frank Duveneck date from this time. Koehler's work while in Munich won him silver and bronze awards from the Academy, and
Bavaria's
Cross of the Order of St. Michael. Koehler then set himself up as head of a private art school; pupils included
Alfons Mucha. He began to exhibit in the National Academy, New York, in 1877. In 1885 he took charge of a private school of art in that city. He organized the American department of the international art exhibition at Munich in 1883, and was appointed by the Bavarian authorities to act in the same capacity in the exhibition of 1888. In 1892 Robert Koehler returned to New York City to work as a portrait artist. The following year he moved to
Minneapolis, Minnesota, accepting an offer to be the director of the
Minneapolis School of Fine Arts (now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design). Koehler was also involved with the establishment of Minneapolis' Museum of Fine Art, now the
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He was a pioneer of art instruction and appreciation in the region. Koehler was president of the Minnesota State Art Commission from 1903 to 1910, member of the Artists' League of Minneapolis, honorary member of the Minnesota State Art Society, honorary member of the Alumni Association of the Minneapolis School of Art, member of the
Society of Western Artists, a lecturer on art history at the University of Minnesota, and member of the Institute des Beaux Arts et des Lettres of
Paris,
France. He received bronze and silver medals at the Munich Academy, honorable mention at the Paris World's Fair, 1889, bronze medal at the International Art Exhibition at Buenos Aires in 1910, and the cross of the Order of Saint Michael of Bavaria in 1888. ==Works==