As is the case for histories with scant documentation, the facts of Ernest Hüpeden’s early life are uncertain. According to best available information, Hüpeden was born in Germany in 1855 and immigrated to New York City in 1878. In his native country, he apparently worked as a banker and was imprisoned for a period of time for a crime he maintained he didn’t commit. He made his way to the upper Midwest on foot, supporting his journey by painting. Hüpeden eventually settled in Valton, Wisconsin, in 1898 and became known for his murals and paintings on furniture and household items such as bottles and pie pans. His tour de force is a large mural covering the walls and ceiling of a Modern Woodmen of America (MWA) lodge, created between 1898 and 1899. The artist died a decade later, in 1911.

In the 1980s, Kohler Foundation, Inc., acquired the lodge and began restoration of the building and murals. After preservation it was given to Sauk County and the Historical Society of the Upper Baraboo Valley. In 2001 the foundation regained stewardship of “The Painted Forest” and built an additional art studio and study center, gifting the site to Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2004. Between that year and 2017, Kohler Foundation also gifted eight Hüpeden paintings and a large cabinet with six panels painted by Hüpeden to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.