Roland Nicolaus was born in 1954 in East Berlin. From 1979 to 1983 he studied painting and graphic art at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin. From 1986 to 1989 he was a master student at the Academy of Arts of the GDR under Willi Neubert. From 1991 to 2000 he taught at the Humboldt University and the University of Arts in Berlin. In 1992 he was awarded the VEAG Prize for painting. Since 1998 Nicolaus has lived and worked in Blumberg (Brandenburg).