The work of artist Romare Bearden tells stories of African American life. His most common themes include family, religion, music, and ritual. Much of Bearden’s artwork depicts people and places from his childhood.

Romare Bearden was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. At a young age, he moved with his parents to Harlem in New York City. He grew up during the Harlem Renaissance—a time when African American music and literature were experiencing a rebirth.

Bearden did not follow a standard path to becoming an artist. In 1935, he graduated from New York University, with a degree not in art but in mathematics. He took a job as a caseworker for the New York City Department of Welfare; around the same time, he began attending classes at the Art Students League. Bearden studied all types of art, including Byzantine mosaics, Renaissance paintings, and African art. He served in the Army during World War II. After the war, he lived in Paris and studied at the prestigious Sorbonne.

Although Bearden had experienced some success as an artist, it wasn’t until the civil-rights movement of the mid-1960s that he received major recognition for his art. By that time, he had begun creating the works for which he would become best known—collages of African American life. For these works, Bearden cut bits of paper and pieces of photographs from magazines, arranged them into tight compositions, and pasted them onto canvas. Bearden’s collages are reminiscent of the patchwork quilts created by African American women in rural areas of North Carolina, where he grew up.