Notes

Affandi was born in Cirebon, West Java. Raden Koesoema, his father, was a surveyor at the Ciledug sugar plantation. Affandi dropped out from Senior High School (AMS-B) in Jakarta. When he was a child, his father wanted him to be a doctor; however, Affandi was interested in drawing.

In 1933, he married to a 16 years old girl named Maryati. One year later, Maryati gave birth a daughter called Kartika. Kartika has become a painter herself. A few years later, Affandi married the second wife called Rubiyem, who had born him three children.
Before taking up painting seriously, Affandi worked as a teacher. He also worked at a movie theatre in Bandung as the person in charge of checking the tickets and painted ads for the movie. He stopped these activities when he decided to take up painting professionally.

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. He found out 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. In certain respects, he has acknowledged similarities with Vincent van Gogh from Netherlands.

In 1950, Affandi joined a group that contributed significantly to the development of the fine arts in Indonesia. The group was called Kelompok Lima Bandung (The Bandung Group of Five) along with Hendra Gunawan, Barli, Sudarso and Wahdi. Affandi was the Chairman. It was not a structured organization but more of a study group, aimed at helping and giving assistance to fellow painters.

In 1943, Affandi held his first exhibition at Gedoeng Poetera, Jakarta during the Japanese occupation. He took a part in the Cultural Section of Poetera (Poesat Tenaga Rakjat – The Peoples Power Centre) under the guidance of Ir. Soekarno, Drs. Mohammad Hatta, Ki Hajar Dewantara and Kyai Haji Mas Mansur. In Poetera, Affandi served as the Chairman of the working committee while S.Soedjojono was the Executive Chairman. They reported to Bung Karno.
Prior to and after the Declaration of Indonesian Independence, and later during the armed struggle against the Dutch occupational forces, he was actively involved in painting posters encouraging people to take arms against dutch.

He also led an organisation called Lekra (Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat) in new order.

To bring and introduce his works to art lovers, Affandi often hold exhibitions in various places. Because of his paintings, he became famous, even some foreign country like Europe, America and Australia knows him. He also got Honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Singapore in 1974. Before that, Indonesian government made a museum over his old house and inaugurated by minister of Education and Culture at that time, Fuad Hassan.

Although international world said that Affandi's art included as an expressionism genre, Affandi confessed that his art is not included to that genre.
Based on a people's spirit, Affandi was interested in the theme of the lives of small people.

On 23th of May, 1990 Affandi passed away. Before his death, Affandi spent a lot of time sitting around in his own museum, observing his paintings. He said once, "I want to die in simplicity without giving anyone unnecessary trouble, so I could go home to Him in peace." Even though he passed away, his works can still be enjoyed at Museum Affandi. Museum Affandi is located at Jl. Laksda Adisucipto No.167. He is now buried in the museum complex, as he wished to always be surrounded by his family and his workers.