Jan Verdoodt (1908–1980) came from Sint-Pieters-Jette in Belgium. He attended the Academy of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean from 1926, under Frans Persoons, where he was attracted equally by Realism and Surrealism. He developed his own style by combining these two schools, creating 'a kind of magic realism in which dream and reality, woman and nature, were intimately bound together'.