One the masters of modern Indonesian art, Dullah was born in Surakarta, in the Central Java region, where he was introduced to the world of art by his mother, an expert in batik. He was self-taught, learning from the artists of the Putera movement, and painted portraits and landscapes, with a particular emphasis on scenes of daily life, culture and the historical events of his land. Between 1950 and 1960 he served as President Sukarno’s first Palace artist, and later co-founded an artists’ association in Surakarta but spent much time at the Pejeng Art Center in Bali cultivating his passion for realistic painting.
