Adil Dogancay, the father of Burhan Dogancay, was born in Istanbul in 1900. He was an officer in the Turkish army and also a well-known painter. His works are predominantly impressionistic land-and seascapes as well as still life in oil on canvas. Although few of his paintings are dated, most of them were completed between 1940 and 1990, the year he died.

Adil Dogancay received his artistic training from Major Seref Bey at the Eyup Military Academy and from Major Tahsin Bey, a seascape artist from Diyarbakir, at the Topography School. He fought in the Turkish War of Independence, and was awarded the Independence Medal. As a topographer, he traveled all over Anatolia, which gave him the opportunity to spend hou...