Théo van Rysselberghe was born in Ghent in 1862. He began his studies at the Academy of Ghent under Theo Canneel and later moved to the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels under the tutelage of Jean-François Portaels. Under the influence of Portaels and Orientalism, Rysselberge made three trips to Morroco between 1882 and 1888. Notably, he was one of the co-founders of Les XX, a Belgian artistic circle that rebelled against the outmoded academism of the time. He experimented with Impressionist techniques, eventually adopting Neo-Impressionism. Rysselberge discovered the Pointillist technique when he was exposed to Seurat's La Grande Jatte at the eighth Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1886. During the first decade of the 20th century, his work became more relaxed until he abandoned the Pointillist method of painting. This rigidity was replaced by bolder brushstrokes and a more vivid color palette. In 1911, he retired to the Côte d'Azur where continued painting landscapes of the Meditteranean Coast. In modern times, he is considered to be one of the greatest Neo-Impressionist painters.