Adolph von Harbou was a German autodidact painter, watercolourist and sketcher. He was born on March 30, 1879 in Stollham, in Lower Saxony. Von Harbou worked as a military officer. He was a cousin of the well-known scenario writer Thea von Harbou, who was once married to the renowned movie director Fritz Lang.

His work has notably been exhibited in 1988 at the Galerie 1900-2000 in Paris and in 2011 at Mehdi Chouakri Gallery in Berlin.

On the occasion of the Paris exhibition, a leaflet was written by the Swedish artist Ragnar von Holten emphasizing the characteristics of von Harbou's expressionist work.

Ragnar von Holten (1934–2009) was first and foremost an artist, although he was also a writer and served for a number of years as curator at both the Nationalmuseum and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

Von Holten lived in Paris around 1960 and was part of the surrealist circle led by the poet André Breton. This circle also included other artists such as Toyen, Christian d’Orgeix, Wifredo and Lou Lam, Meret Oppenheim, Simon Hantaï and Konrad Klapheck. Strong bonds were formed with von Holten, and he took part in the Surrealists’ major international exhibitions during the 1950s and 60s, which in turn contributed to his international breakthrough.