Hans Bellmer was born in Kattowitz (today Katowice, Poland) in 1902. In the 1920s he began studying engineering in Berlin and came into contact with protagonists of the Dada movement. During a stay in Paris in 1925–26, he was present in Dadaist circles. In 1938 he moved to Paris and became acquainted with the Surrealists around André Breton. After the war years he lived in the south of France. 1949 saw him return to Paris. He participated in documenta as well as in II. documenta. Bellmer died in Paris in 1975.