Fischer was born on 14 December 1962 in Hamburg, West Germany. His father came from Mecklenburg. As a child, Fischer glimpsed the art galleries while visiting relatives farther to the south, in Dresden in the then (from 1949 until 1989) separate East German state. He undertook postgraduate research on Hermann Prell, for which he received a doctorate degree from the University of Bonn (Universität Bonn) in 1994. He is fluent in German, French, Italian and English.