Sabri Berkel studied at the Belgrade Fine Arts School and later studied fresco and engraving at the Florence Fine Arts Academy. In 1948 he attended the Andre Lhote studio and on his return to Turkey, began a long teaching career at the Academy of Fine Arts which lasted until 1974.

His passion for abstraction appeared even in his early Cubist figurative compositions but especially later on in his spot/stain paintings. He preferred painting on board to canvas, to avoid the texture of the canvas from distracting from his colors and shapes. Despite the flatness of the board, his spots of colors take on a three-dimensional form and exude a light from within.

Berkel was very interested in the study of color, geom...