Pol Mara is a pseudonym for Louis Leysen and stands for ‘Pour Oublier Laideur Métamorphoses Amour Rêve Amitié’ (to forget ugliness, metamorphoses, love, dream, friendship). After graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, the artist worked at Janssen Pharmaceutica as a graphic designer. Mara’s painting style evolved in the 1950s from surrealism to abstraction and in the 1960s became analogous with pop art. The artist won various awards and travelled all around the world to exhibit his work.
