Yvan Theys born in 1936 and died in 2005 studied from 1956 to 1958 at the Sint-Lucas art academy in Tournai. In 1959 he had his first solo exhibition, in Kortrijk, and he succeeded his teacher Eugène Dodeigne at the academy. At the age of twenty-five, he first acquired fame with work that initially resembled Cobra and soon thereafter merged into the style of the new figuration.