Renate Klein initially trained as a nursery school teacher. She showed a particular interest in painting and drawing from a young age, and she took part in painting and drawing groups from the age of ten. Her favourite subjects included people and faces. Later in life, she received her artistic training in Gotha, Germany under Margarethe Metze, Siegfried Bruckner and Manfred Mitscherling. From 1986 to 1987, she attended the Spezialschule fur Leiter des kunstlerischen Volksschaffens, speicalising in Painting/Graphics, at the Kulturakademie Rudolstadt. Since 1994/95, she has been a tutor in portrait drawing at the Gotha Adult Education Centre.