Armando

Armando was born in 1929 in Amsterdam. In the late thirties the family moves to Amersfoort, where Armando spends his youth. He lived close to a German concentration camp and what he saw and experienced there left a lasting impression and formed a significant source for his visual and literary work.
Between 1949 and 1954 he studied History of Art and Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and Armando began as a self-taught painter.
In 1954 he exhibited his Peintures Criminelles for the first time, from which his painting developed into black and red impasto monochrome paintings.
From 1958 to 1960 he was part of the Dutch Informele Groep, together with Kees van Bohemen, Jan Henderikse, Henk Peeters and Jan Schoonhoven.
In 1960 he became a co-founder of the Dutch Nul group, which will exist until 1965, after which Armando devoted himself solely to his literary work for a number of years.
At the end of the sixties Armando started to draw and paint again and from 1988 his oeuvre expanded to include sculptures.
In addition to his visual artistry, Armando is linked to the weekly magazine, the Haagse Post as art editor from 1958 to the end of the sixties. Thereafter he continued to be published as freelance columnist in various magazines.
In 1998 the Armando Museum opened in Amersfoort, where an important part of his oeuvre is on display.
Since 1979 Armando alternately lives and works in Berlin and Amsterdam.