Marinus (known as Bob) Zijlmans (Rotterdam, 1918 - there, 1992) grew up in a Catholic family. He attended the Antwerp art academy as a student of Constant Permeke, as well as the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam. After the war Zijlmans traveled a lot and lived in England and Indonesia for a few years. After that he developed into a painter and monumental artist. He made mosaics, glass-in-concrete walls, (glass) paintings and sculptures. The human figure was a constant factor in his work. Zijlmans mainly worked on commission in Rotterdam and he was a member of the General Catholic Artists Association (AKKV). Mid 1950-1960, Zijlmans received a lot of press with his paintings and drawings of human figures, akin to the silence in the work of Dolf Henkes. In the 1970s he takes part in a group exhibition in De Doelen.
