Xago was born Rolf Xago Schröder in 1942 in Elsterwerda (Brandenburg). Between 1962 and 1966, he studied philosophy, literary studies, and cultural studies at Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1966, Xago became an assistant at the Babelsberg Film and Television Academy, before moving in 1970 to the German Building Academy of the GDR, where he conducted research on urban sociology and Bauhaus. From 1975 onwards, he devoted himself more intensively to painting and joined the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR in 1976. On 11 April 1990, the members elected him as the first and at the same time the last freely elected President and “First Spokesman.”