Wenders graduated from the Gymnasium (high school) in Oberhausen, in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine (1963-64) and philosophy (1964-65) in Freiburg and Düsseldorf. However, he dropped out of school and moved to Paris in October, 1966 to become a painter. Wenders failed his entry test at the Art Academy, so instead became an engraver in the studio of Johnny Friedlander, an American artist, in Montparnasse. During this time, Wenders became fascinated with cinema, and saw up to 5 movies a day at the local movie theater.

Set on making his obsession also his life’s work, Wenders returned to Germany in 1967 to work in the Düsseldorf office of United Artists. That fall, he entered the "Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München" (University of Television and Film Munich). Between 1967 and 1970 while at the "HFF", Wenders also worked as a film critic for FilmKritik, then the Munich daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Twen magazine, and Der Spiegel.

Wenders completed several short films before graduating from the Hochschule with a feature-length 16mm black and white film, Summer in the City.

Wenders began his career in film as part of the New German Cinema in the late 1960s, making his feature directorial debut with Summer in the City in 1970. Awards that he has received include the Golden Lion for The State of Things at the Venice Film Festival in 1982, the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984 for his movie Paris, Texas, and Best Direction for Wings of Desire at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. Wenders was awarded honorary doctorates at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1989 and at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium in 2005. He was awarded the Leopard of Honour at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2005.

Much of the cinematography in his movies was as a result of a highly productive collaboration with Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller. He also worked with the famous Austrian writer Peter Handke, adapting Handke’s novel The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick for his second feature film, The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty, and then collaborating with Handke in one of his most famous movies, Wings of Desire. He co-wrote Until the End of the World starring actress and romantic interest Solveig Dommartin.

He has directed several highly acclaimed documentaries, most notably Buena Vista Social Club about Cuban musicians, and Soul of a Man about American blues.