Josef Ongenae (Antwerp °1921 - Amsterdam °1993) was an autodidactic painter. Before turning to art, he traveled extensively as a sailor and studied world religions and classical philosophy. During the Second World War, while in hiding from the German forced labor draft, artist Jan Cox would teach him the basics of painting. A member of "La Jeune Peinture Belge," Ongenae moved to Amsterdam in 1950 where he founded the "Liga Nieuwe Beelden" group. He spent the rest of his career developing his trademark geometrical abstraction and finishing decorative works for Dutch public places and institutions.