JIM DINE — Expressive Symbolic Realist

Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American artist and poet whose long and multifaceted career has encompassed painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, performance, poetry, and book illustration. He earned his BFA from Ohio University in 1957 before relocating to New York, where he quickly became part of the avant-garde scene. In 1959, he collaborated with artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Allan Kaprow, creating experimental performance events known as “Happenings,” which helped shape early performance art practice in the United States.

By the early 1960s, Dine began integrating everyday objects such as bathrobes, tools, clothing, and household items into his artwork, transforming them into personal symbols that became his enduring visual lexicon. These motifs, drawn from memory and autobiography, evolved into a poetic language of identity and emotional resonance. “I grew up with tools,” Dine has said. “I came from a family of people who sold tools, and I’ve always been enchanted by these objects made by anonymous hands.”

Although shown alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Dine has long rejected the Pop Art label. His work instead bridges expressive figuration, symbolism, and painterly invention. Over the course of six decades, he has produced more than 300 solo exhibitions worldwide and worked across continents, maintaining studios and residencies in the United States and Europe. He currently divides his time between Paris and Walla Walla, Washington.

While we do not currently have works by this artist in inventory, we offer sourcing services for blue-chip artworks and can assist with acquisition opportunities upon request.

Dine is considered one of the most influential printmakers of the 20th and 21st centuries. His prints have been the subject of major retrospectives at institutions such as the Albertina Museum in Vienna, the Museum Folkwang in Essen, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. His work is represented in over 70 public collections globally, including The Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Tate Modern (London), and the Centre Pompidou (Paris). Dine has also made significant philanthropic donations of his work, including major gifts to the Washington State University Museum of Art, the Raclin Murphy Museum at the University of Notre Dame, and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Explore Jim Dine at DTR Modern Galleries

DTR Modern Galleries offers a curated selection of Jim Dine’s work to collectors across all gallery locations. His prints, paintings, and mixed-media pieces are available through our Boston, New York City, Palm Beach, and Washington, D.C. galleries.