After his first years studying painting and sculpture at the Art Academy in Karlsruhe, Thomas Müllenbach moved to Zurich in 1972 to train as a restorer at the Swiss Institute for Art Research. In 1974 and 1975, he received a scholarship for fine arts from the City of Zurich; in 1979 – also from the City of – a one-year studio scholarship in New York. After his return, first solo exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich. In 1985, Müllenbach initiated and co-founded the Kunsthalle Zürich, of which he remained Vice President until 2003. From 1989 to 2015, he was a professor at the Zurich University of the Arts. Thomas Müllenbach lives in Zurich and Gaboin, France.