Maurice van Essche was born in 1906 in Antwerp, Belgium, moving to Brussels with his family when he was five years old. In 1924 he studied at the Brussels Academy of Fine Art under James Ensor. Although he interrupted his studies at the Academy in order to earn a living, working in a stained-glass studio and later in wallpaper design, he painted continuously, and also worked as a freelance cartoonist. Full biography