Born at Südern-Lindern in the Bern Oberland on 11 November 1888, Johannes Itten was a painter and teacher, who became so busy with his teaching profession, he struggled to have time to paint. He was the son of a teacher and trained as a primary-school teacher at the teacher-training institute in Bern. After briefly teaching primary school, Itten spent a semester at the Geneva École des Beaux-Arts in Genf before taking a diploma in mathematics and science to teach secondary school.

Trips abroad, however, convinced Johannes Itten that he would be happier and better off as a painter. In 1913 Itten trained under Adolf Hölzel in Stuttgart, where he met Ida Kerkovius, Oskar Schlemmer and Willi Baumeister. Johannes Itten moved to Vie...