12 Trivia Facts About Affandi

1. Indonesia was the home country and final resting place of Affandi, a prolific painter who lived from 1907 until 1990. 
2. Affandi was Born in Cirebon, West Java, as the son of R. Koesoema, who was a surveyor at a local sugar factory.
3. Affandi finished his upper secondary school in Jakarta and gave up his studies to pursue his desire to become an artist. 
4. Beginning in 1934, Affandi began teaching himself how to paint. 
5. He married Maryati, a fellow artist. One of his children, Kartika also became an artist.
6. In the 1950s, Affandi began to create expressionist paintings. The piece Carrying the First Grandchild (1953) marked his newfound style known as "squeezing the tube".
7. Affandi painted by directly squeezing the paint out of its tube. He came across this technique by accident, when he intended to draw a line one day. As he lost his patience when he was looking for a missing pencil, he applied the paint directly from its tube. The resulting effect, as he found out, was that the painted object appeared more alive. He also felt more freedom to express his feelings when he used his own hands, instead of a paint brush.
8. In 1957, he received a scholarship from the United States government to study arts education. He was appointed as an Honorary Professor in Painting by Ohio State University in Columbus.
9. In 1974, he received an honorary doctorate from University of Singapore, the Peace Award from the Dag Hammarskjoeld Foundation in 1977, and the title of Grand Maestro in Florence, Italy.
10. In Yogyakarta, where he has lived since 1945, Affandi designed for himself a free-form house that has become a stopping place for tourists as well as tourists visiting the old town. The place also functions as a museum to display his paintings. The museum has around 250 of Affandi's paintings.
11. Affandi had two wives. The only child from his first marriage, Kartika, has become a painter herself. A few years later, the artist took a second wife, who has borne him three children. One of his more memorable paintings shows him nude, holding a newborn grandchild, under a blue sky filled with stars.
12. Affandi died on May 23, 1990, after suffering a complication of illnesses. He is now buried in the museum complex, as he wished to always be surrounded by his family and his works.

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-0Tzjp-ehs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affandi