Reclining nude, 1958

Han Hulsbergen (1901-1989) moved to Amsterdam in 1927, where he studied at the Rijksacademie, as a pupil of Johannes Hendricus Jurres and Hendrik Jan Wolter.
In 1930, he received the Royal Grant for Free Painting, which enabled him to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti e Liceo Artistico in Florence. When he returned to Amsterdam, he received a prize from the Willink van Collen Fund. In 1939 he and his wife settled in Blaricum.

Hulsbergen painted, watercolor and drew neo-realistic portraits, landscapes and figure representations. In the forties his work shows influences from cubism, and from the sixties it became mostly abstract. In 1954 he was one of ten artists chosen by the Ministry of Education, Art and Science to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador. Hulsbergen visited Athens and was inspired by the stories of Greek mythology there.

In the 1950s, Hulsbergen experimented with concrete, creating concrete paintings as well as concrete panels and reliefs that could be used within architecture. He devised a way to color the concrete and developed a process whereby the concrete did not have to be cast. This enabled him to make plasters as well. Hulsbergen called his invention, a mix of clay and concrete, meliora beton. From 1965, Hulsbergen also made paintings with enamel.

The artist was affiliated with Arti et Amicitiae and Sint Lucas, and was a member and chairman of the Gooische Schildersvereniging. He exhibited at the Centraal Museum, Hamdorff, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Goois Museum, among others. His work is included in several museum collections. Hulsbergen died at the age of 87 in Blaricum.