Affandi, considered to be Indonesia's foremost Expressionist painter, was born in western Java.

In the 1940s, he was involved with the formation of artists' communities in Yogyakarta, as well as Soedjojono and Hendra Gunawan.

He traveled and exhibited internationally in the 1950s in Europe and India. His work was in the Venice Biennale in 1954 and Sao Paolo Biennale in 1956. In 1974 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Singapore, and in 1977 he received the Peace Award from the Dag Hammarskjoeld Foundation.

He also attained the title of Grand Maestro in Florence, Italy. He built his own museum in Yogyakarta in Central Java in 1962.