Erol Akyavas, began painting as a visiting student in the Bedri Rahmi atelier of the Fine Arts Academy of Istanbul. Between 1950 and 1953, he attended the summer classes of the Fine Arts Academy in Florence. He worked in Paris with André Lhote and Fernand Léger, and participated to the “Cercle et Carré” exhibitions and to the Salons des Réalités Nouvelles. After leaving France, Akyavas travelled to the States and studied architecture with Mies Van Der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Shortly after his graduation, one of his paintings, The Glory of Sultans, was purchased by the New York, Museum of Modern Arts (MoMA). The Glory of Sultans was included the following year in the exhibition “History of Modern P...