Ludwik Klimek, born on August 23, 1912, in Skoczów (Austria-Hungary, now Poland), grew up in a large family of twelve children. He held his first exhibition at the age of eleven and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In 1939, he went to Paris on scholarship and attended André Lhote's studio and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. After the invasion of Poland, he remained in France and settled in the south, first in Nice, then in Menton, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, and Juan-les-Pins. In Vallauris, he met Picasso and became friends with Marc Chagall. With Henri Matisse, he founded the Menton International Art Biennale in 1951, where he exhibited regularly until 1972. Ludwik Klimek created approximately 3,000 works, mainly oil paintings, but also watercolors, pastels, and gouaches, depicting female figures, myths, landscapes, and still lifes. He died on December 7, 1992, in Antibes, and his funeral took place on December 11 at Antibes Cathedral.
