DAN ROBBINS : THE INVENTOR OF PAINT BY NUMBERS

An interesting reminder on his very particular story!

This artist invented this revolutionary concept in the 1950s inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, who taught through numbered drawings to his students to train and advance their artistic minds.

How to paint if you are a beginner? The solution: a painting kit with encrypted pots, a canvas to paint with numbers and brushes! That's it!

Dan Robbins had the idea in 1949 when he was working for Palmer Paint Company in Detroit and had plans to find a creative adult entertainment product. The second world war ended, Americans had more time to devote to hobbies and leisure of all kinds.

This phenomenon then experienced a huge boom in the United States and became one of the favorite hobbies of a whole generation.

At that time there were no computers and the creation and production of paint by numbers were then hand made. The first kits were pretty simple with few colours and then became more precise with the addition of multitudes of colours, until what there is today.

The first painting by numbers: You will not believe it!

This is the first numbered painting by Robbins, called "Abstract No. One" which was a still life. His team later named much more popular and varied models of landscapes.

In the 1950s, more than 20 million paint by number kits were sold each year in the United States.

The art world was not always kind to the paint by number concept, criticising this method because it then made it possible for any person to create fabulous works.

Celebrities like Andy Warhol, known for his paintings, vigorously supported painting by numbers and was both a fan and a collector.

Dan Robbins was active until the late 1980s and his works are still on display at the Detroit Historical Museum.

Robbins had a simple idea: to make art accessible to all. Figured'Art follows the steps of the creator of painting by numbers to offer you more designs and varieties in all paint by numbers.