Gottfried grew up in a Catholic home and was responsible for organizing plays and art exhibitions in his youthful days. When he got older, Gottfried enrolled at the Höhere Bundes-Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt in 1965, a school for graphic and visual arts. Gottfried furthered his education in 1969 at the University of Visual Art in Vienna, studying for the next four years. He was an excellent student and won many awards, including the Theodor-Körner Prize and the Master-class prize. Despite being widely considered provocative, Gottfried’s artworks were appreciated for the quality of their technique and realism.

In 1985, Gottfried Helnwein held a successful solo exhibition show at the Albertina Museum in Vienna. He later moved to Germany the same year and bought a castle in Cologne. In 1969, Gottfried Helnwein opened a studio in New York, working between Germany and USA. However, after living in Cologne for twenty-eight years. he moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1997. Five years later, he opened another studio in Los Angeles and has since lived and worked in Ireland and Los Angeles.

Among his various solo shows abroad, the most notable are: Modern Art Museum, San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Wilhelm Busch Museum, Hanover; Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, and The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. His first European exhibition was in The Albertina Museum, Vienna. In Mexico, he participated in an exhibition in the Museo Nacional de San Carlos.