Mordechai Ardon was born in Poland (1896-1992) and studied at the Bauhaus (1921-25) under Klee, Kandinsky, Feininger and Itten. The influence of the Bauhaus and especially of Paul Klee on his artistic development was profound and lasted a lifetime. The other great source of inspiration were the Old Masters, especially Rembrandt and El Greco. After graduating from the Bauhaus he studied the painting techniques of the Old Masters under Max Doerner, at the Munich Academy (1926). The depth and richness of Ardon's colors owe their quality to these techniques. Modern art of the Bauhaus and the color techniques of the old Masters, are the two, seemingly contradicting, elements that forged the character of Ardon's painting throughout the 70 years of his artistic career. He was a modern, mainly abstract expressionist painter.
He extracted these techniques from their figurative context, and used them for the creation of his original contribution to modern art. He believed that a painting should be appreciated and judged solely by its inherent artistic elements, such as color, composition and their interplay. Ardon immigrated to Palestine in 1933 and was the Bezalel director.