Rainer Metzger (born July 3, 1961, Heisenhausen, Lower Bavaria) is a German art historian, author, curator, and critic. Since 2004, he has been Professor of Art History at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe.
Metzger studied art history, modern history, and modern German literature in Munich and Augsburg from 1982 to 1988. During his studies, he published art history articles and essays in newspapers and art magazines. After receiving his master's degree, he prepared a two-volume monograph on Vincent van Gogh with Ing F. Walter for Taschen.
In 1994 he defended his doctoral thesis on the topic "Art in Postmodernism. Dan Graham". After that he worked as an editor of the department of fine arts and architecture in the Viennese newspaper "Der Standard". From 1997 to 2000 he was a research fellow at the Institute of Art History at the University of Stuttgart, and from 1997 to 2002 he was a visiting professor at the University of Art and Industrial Design in Linz.
Rainer Metzger is the author of numerous books on art history, including:
- "Berlin: The Twenties" (2007)
- "Munich: Its Golden Age of Art and Culture 1890–1920" (2009)
- "Gustav Klimt: Drawings and Watercolors" (2005)
His works cover a variety of topics, including the lives and works of Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, and Gustav Klimt.
