Horst Zickelbein was born in Frankfurt (Oder) in 1926. After training as a decorator and spending time as a prisoner of war, he studied mural painting at the Hochschule für bildende und angewandte Kunst Berlin-Weißensee from 1950 to 1955. From 1955 to 1958, he was a master student under Heinrich Ehmsen. From 1958 onwards, he worked as a freelance artist in Berlin, creating not only paintings and graphic works but also murals and glass works. In 1996, he moved to Bornholm, where the landscape inspired him to create new bodies of work. He died on Bornholm in 2024.