Johannes Geccelli was born in Königsberg in 1925. From 1947 to 1951 Johannes Geccelli studied at the Düsseldorf art academy.
From 1964 he was working as a guest lecturer at the "Hochschule für Bildende Künste" in Hamburg and only one year later became a professor at the Berlin "Hochschule der Künste".
In 1980 Johannes Geccelli became a guest lecturer at the Hunter College in New York City.
Johannes Geccelli died in Jühnsdorf in the German region of Brandenburg, on June 23, 2011.