The Düsseldorf School of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Düsseldorf Academy roughly between 1819 and 1918, first directed by the painter Wilhelm von Schadow.

Andreas Achenbach was a German landscape and seascape painter in the Romantic style. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Düsseldorf School. His brother, Oswald, was also a well known landscape painter. Together, based on their initials, they were known as the "Alpha and Omega" of landscape painters.