Sylvia Hagen was born in Treuenbrietzen (Brandenburg) in 1947. She studied medicine at the Humboldt University in East Berlin from 1966 to 1969, but then decided to work as an artist. From 1971 to 1976 she studied sculpture at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin. In 2006 and 2017 she was awarded the Brandenburg Art Prize. Hagen lives and works in the Oderbruch (Brandenburg).