Dutch painter born in Zoeterwoude, near Leyde, Holland. He lived in Paris from 1925 to 1965, when he moved to Geneve, and in Maiorca from 1932-36. He was close to Samuel Beckett, who wrote about his work. His paintings exhibit a remarkable consistency from the late 1940s until the end of his career. Though he developed his art without knowledge of American action painting, van Velde was the European artist closest to aspects of his fellow Hollander, Willem de Kooning, who showed his interest in Van Velde’s art when it was first shown in New York in 1948. He was a link between the Americans and the young painters of the CoBrA group. 1970- Retrospectives, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Kunsthalle Basel, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; 1981 retrospective, Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark, 1994, retrospective Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leyde, Holland.
