Erich Paulsen was born in the small town of Treunbrietzen, in the region Bundesland of Brandenburg, just outside Berlin, on February 23, 1932. He spent his early childhood in the region called "Mark Brandenburg", known for its pine trees and uncounted small lakes. Attracted to the arts since childhood, Paulsen received his formal education in art at the Fine Arts Academy in Lower Saxony, from which he graduated with honors. After the war, his family moved west in search of safety. They settled in Hamburg, where the aspiring young artist attended the Master Class for Painting, Mesterchule der Malerei. He studied under Professor Joseph Burger in Munich at the Kunst-Akademie and also at the Art Academy in Berlin. Paulsen continued his painting and studies and later graduated with honors.

Deeply impressed by the region of his childhood, Paulsen draws upon these memories to create his paintings. From the countryside to the shores of the Baltic Sea, many of his subjects are reminiscences of this romantic part of Germany. Paulsen chooses primarily landscapes, genre, and coastal scenes as subjects for his paintings. His images of quaint old-world villages are compelling as they seem to catapult the viewer back in time to simpler, more wholesome days. Implementing the palette knife technique and using assured impasto strokes to apply bold colors, this artist's works are distinctive and captivate anyone's imagination.

Following his graduation from the Academy, he made several study trips in search of inspiration and new subject material for his compositions. He traveled extensively through northern Germany, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and the Alps. He is well known for excellent countryside and mountain landscapes, and has also been very successful in painting harbor scenes. His colorful canvases have won much recognition at various exhibitions in his own country as well as in the rest of Europe and the United States, and his paintings have been exhibited around the world in major cities like Munich, Hamburg, Paris, London, New York, Chicago, and Sydney. International art critics have praised his works, and today, they can be found in many prestigious private and municipal art collections.