Rudolf Hausner was born in Vienna and studied art at the Academy in Vienna from 1931 to 1936 under Carl Fahringer and Karl Sterrer. Like so many of his generation, much of his work was declared “degenerate” and banned by the government with the rise to power of National Socialism. He was drafted into service for the duration of the Second World War in 1941; upon discharge, Hausner returned to Vienna and studied Surrealism. He is one of the founders, along with Ernst Fuchs and Wolfgang Hutter, of the Viennese School of Fantastic Realism. During this time he also held principal teaching posts at the academies of Vienna and Hamburg. He died in Vienna.