Born in Tasmania, Australia, Derwent Lees moved to London in 1905 and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art with Henry Tonks and Frederick Brown. After completing his studies, he stayed on to teach for a decade, working on and off whilst his artistic career took off, with works exhibited at the Goupil Galleries and the Chenil Gallery, Chelsea, in 1914.

Between 1910 and 1912, Lees spent most of his time painting with artists and friends Augustus John, Ambrose McEvoy, and James Dickson Innes in North Wales and Spain. During the winter months, they would go to Collioure, a small fishing village on the Mediterranean in the south of France, a hub for artists in the early twentieth century, popular with Picasso, Matisse, De...