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The Belgian sculptor, painter and architect, Georges Vantongerloo studied at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp between 1900 and 1904 and at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, between 1906 and 1909. In 1915, he met Jules Schmalzigaug who introduced him to the ideas of Cubism and Futurism. His sculptures of this period consist of representations of the human body, whilst his paintings reflect the influence of Pointillism. In 1917, he was co-founder of the De Stijl group. He met Theo van Doesburg and transformed his sculptures into geometrical and biomorphic abstractions. After the First World War, Vantongerloo returned to Brussels and, in 1919, produced two large stone sculptures, Interrelation of Volumes. In 1920, he moved to the south of France where he developed a theory of colour in which the three primary colours, favoured by the De Stjil artists, were replaced by the seven secondary colours. A similar change occurred in his painting. At this time, he concentrated equally on interior design, furniture, ceramics and utopian architectural projects. Vantongerloo distanced himself from De Stjil, but remained faithful to many of its principles, nonetheless. In 1928, he moved to Paris and had a significant role in the emergence of the Cercle et Carré and Abstraction- -Création groups. Between 1937 and 1945, he concentrated exclusively on painting and his return to sculpture, some years later, largely favoured modern materials such as plastic and acrylic. His concern with the concept of space was an ever-present factor in his work.

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