He briefly attended the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, but later had to finance his life by painting portraits. In 1811 he worked as a teacher of arts for the children of Count Gyulay in Croatia. After three years he returned to Vienna and started to improve his skills by copying the works of old masters. Waldmüller later became interested in nature and started painting landscapes. These are his most notable works, in which his sense of colour and knowledge of nature helped him to achieve masterly skill.

In 1823 he made a portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven.

He was professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, but was in disputes with the Viennese establishment, most notably for his comments on the system of the academy, where he wanted to establish a focus of the study on nature.

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller was one of the most important Austrian painters of the Biedermeier period. Whether it was the conquest of the landscape and thus the convincing rendering of closeness or distance, the accurate characterisation of the human face, the detailed and refined description of textures, or the depiction of rural everyday life: his works – brilliant, explanatory, moralising, and socially critical – influenced a whole generation of artists. Being an advocate of natural observation and plein air painting, as well as a critic of academic painting, Waldmüller was far ahead of his time.

He was one of the leading Austrian painters of the Biedermeier period.[1] Waldmuller studied at the Vienna Academy.

He lived in Bratislava, then worked as a teacher of art in the house of Count Gyulay. After his return to Vienna, Waldmuller copied paintings of old masters, and painted portraits, genre subjects, and still-life paintings, but is perhaps best known for his landscape paintings, which in their loving attention to detail illustrate Waldmuller's belief that the close study of nature should be the basis of painting.

Waldmuller became the most significant representative of Biedermeier: he was second to none in depicting nature in delicate colours. Waldmuller later became interested in nature and thus started painting landscape paintings (genre painting). Waldmuller's most notable oil paintings lie in the depiction of nature, where his sense for colours and large knowledge of nature helped him to achieve masterly skills.

He was professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. However, his views were in opposition to the official doctrines of ideal art promulgated by the Vienna Academy, and after he had published his works on art education, he was forced to retire in 1857. Waldmuller was rehabilitated in 1863.

Waldmuller died on 23 August 1865 in Hinterbrühl, Austria.

The Birthday Table
1840
Oil on oak panel, 63 x 50 cm
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Bouquet in an Attic Bell Crater
c. 1840
Oil on panel, 58 x 46 cm
Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Children
1834
Oil on panel, 25 x 31 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

After Confiscation
1859
Oil on wood, 73 x 90 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

The Gierster Family
1838
Oil on canvas, 174 x 143 cm
Historisches Museum, Vienna

The Grandmother's Birthday
1856
Oil on panel, 71 x 58 cm
Royal Collection, Windsor

A Journey Refused
1865
Oil on wood, 47 x 61 cm
Akademie der bildenden Kьnste, Vienna

Martyrdom of St Andrew
1821
Oil on canvas, 104 x 92 cm
Akademie der bildenden Kьnste, Vienna

Portrait of Gyцrgy Gaбl
1842
Oil on canvas, 64 x 51 cm
Historical Picture Gallery, Hungarian National Museum, Budapest

The Schцnberg Seen from Hoisernradalpe
1833
Oil on canvas, 31 x 26 cm
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Waldmьller's Son Ferdinand with Dog
1836
Oil on canvas, 39 x 31 cm
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

The Soup Kitchen
1859
Oil on wood, 94 x 122 cm
Цsterreichsche Galerie, Vienna

The Eltz Family
1835
Oil on canvas, 124 x 110 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Early Spring in the Wienerwald
1864
Oil on canvas, 43 x 54 cm
Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Young Peasant Woman with Three Children at the Window
1840
Oil on canvas, 85 x 68 cm
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

Children at the Window
1853
Oil on canvas, 85 x 69 cm
Residenzgalerie, Salzburg