Hermann Ottomar Herzog entered the Düsseldorf Art Academy at age seventeen to study landscape painting. Herzog achieved early commercial success with his canvases, this allowed him to travel to Europe and continue his art training.

In the late 1860s, after a long trip to Norway, Hermann Ottomar Herzog decided to sail to the United States and settled near Philadelphia. From his new home base, he traveled throughout the U.S. North to South and East to West and even went to Mexico. Painting his way across the western states, he finally arriving in California in 1873. His works from this trip included a series of Yosemite Valley paintings.

Because he was a prudent investor, Herzog did not need to rely upon on the sale of his artwork to live a comfortable lifestyle. Following his death, his family retained a large group of his paintings, most of which were released to the art market in the 1970s. Many prominent American and European museums now include Herzog's work as part of their collections.

Hermann Ottomar Herzog's work might be considered to be part of the Hudson River School, although it is more realistic and less sensational than works by fellow artists Frederic Edwin Church or Albert Bierstadt.

In his long life, Hermann Ottomar Herzog created more than 1,000 paintings, including Women in a Tropical Setting and Landscape with a Bear and her Cub, what he was most enjoyed painting were landscapes with raging rivers and waterfalls.