Tuymans was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1958 and died Sep 26^th 2004.

He began studying fine art in 1976. He concentrated on painting but in the early 1980s he lost faith in the medium and gave up for two years. During this time he worked as a film-maker, and when he returned to painting in the mid-1980s, he introduced new techniques such as cropping, close-ups, framing and sequencing, which remain as important elements of his work today.

The subject of his works vary from major historical events, such as the Holocaust or the politics of the Belgian Congo, to wallpaper patterns, Christmas decorations, everyday objects There are also paintings based on abstract emotional states, titled ‘Embitterment’ or ‘Insomnia’, which hint towards philosophical responses to the human condition.

Tucmans paintings are so varied that they deliberately avoid being able to be catorgorised. Events and ideas are not overly expressed but done so in a very subtle manner through hints and allusion creating a double meaning behind his work using a collage of disconnected fragments and details.

Tuyman showed this approach when exhibiting at the Tate Modern. He choose to hang individual paintings from different works connecting different images from different stages in his career.

This was due to Tuymans belief that representation is subjective and meaning must be pieced together like memories through isolated fragments.