After attending trade school, Hannes Kilian completed a three-year photography course in Switzerland. From 1933-1938 he lived in Naples and Paris, returning to Germany in 1938 where he worked as a freelance photojournalist. In 1941 he was recruited as a war photographer. As of 1945 Kilian resumed his work as a freelance photographer supplying photographs to magazines such as Time, Picture Post, Zeit, Stuttgarter Illustrierte, Spiegel, Stern and Vogue. As of the 1960s Ballet became one of his main areas of focus.
