Alfred Heinrich Pellegrini attended Basel's vocational school, the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule, from 1896 to 1899. From 1899 to 1901 he lived in Munich, where he studied at the Art Academy under Gabriel von Hackl. Pellegrini returned to Switzerland in 1901, then settled in Geneva from 1902 to 1906. He journeyed to Italy and the French Riviera and encountered Ferdinand Hodler. Pellegrini lived in Stuttgart from 1906 to 1908. He also journeyed to northern Germany. From 1908 to 1913, he studied under Adolf Hölzel at the Art Academy in Stuttgart. His friendships with Otto Meyer, Oskar Schlemmer and Willi Baumeister were notable, as were his visits to Paris (1911) and Venice (1912). He spent the period 1914-17 back in Munich, where he taught at the School of Applied Arts. A member of the 'New Secession', Pellegrini also became an Anthroposophist (1917). He returned to Basel in 1917, remaining there until his death in 1958. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was among his friends.