Dutch painter, graphic artist and sculptor who was influenced by the French brute-art artist Jean DUBUFFET, by Pablo PICASSO and Henri MATISSE | 1921 born in Amsterdam, Netherlands | 1940-44 studies at the “Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten” (State Academy of Fine Arts) in Amsterdam | 1946 first show in Groningen | 1948 founds transnational avant-garde movement “CoBrA” with other artists | 1950 moves to Paris; travels to Mexico, USA, Yugoslavia and Brazil, lives in New York City and Florence | 1954 first American gallery exhibition | after 1990 becomes more popular in the Netherlands | 2006 died in Zürich, Switzerland
