1910 - Robert Helman was born in Galatz, Romania, into a wealthy Jewish family. His father owned a large alcohol distillery. A private teacher introduces him to drawing and painting, but his gifts are thwarted by the family's wishes.

1927 - Robert Helman arrives in Paris at the age of 17 to enroll in the Faculty of Law. During these years in the Latin Quarter, he frequented intellectual circles, meeting Maurice Nadeau and Philippe Soupault, among others.

1933 - After his graduation as a lawyer, Robert Helman marries Zéna, a young girl studying philosophy at the Sorbonne, Romanian like himself.

THE YEARS OF EXILE IN SPAIN (1939 – 1945)

1939-1945 - Warned of Hitler's invasion by German friends, Robert and Zéna took refuge in Barcelona. It was here that Robert Helman returned to painting. He began by portraits his friends and neighbors to earn a living ; then, attracted by the palette of Velasquez, he created his first "Genesis", volcanic landscapes in warm and bubbling colors. He met Santo Domingo painter Jaime A. Colson, a professor at the Barcelona Academy of Fine Arts. Colson taught him the fresco technique and invited him to join the artist group "Los artistas de la Campana de San Gervasio". The group takes its name from the café where its members meet. The group included artists Joan Vilató and Josep Vilató (nephews of Pablo Picasso), Joan Ponç, Antoni Tápies, Modest Cuixart, José María de Sucre and poet Joan Brossa, as well as art critic Arnau Puig. In 1945, Robert Helman's work was shown for the first time at Galerias Pictoria, where he met the painter Emmanuel Mané-Katz, with whom he forged a long friendship.

MONTPARNASSE and THE STRUGGLING YEARS (1945 – 1950)

1946 - France liberated, Robert Helman returned to Paris with his wife and decided to devote himself entirely to painting. Mané Katz hands him over his former studio and Helman settles in Montparnasse. He befriended Spanish painters Oscar Dominguez and Antoni Clavé, as well as Victor Brauner and Jean-Michel Atlan. They met at Le Dôme, La Coupole, Le Sélect café and La Pagode on the Vavin crossroads. This post-war era saw artists from every continent flock to Paris. Robert Helman's studio was home to painters Lan-Bar, Pichette, Michonze and Dmitrienko, Italian sculptors Nardo Dunchi and Gigi Guadanucci, Brazilian Franz Krajcberg, Australian painter Sacha Halpern and many others.

1947-1948 - Robert Helman abandons his early Surrealist-influenced themes and begins his own personal cosmology. Marked by the destruction of Europe by the Nazis, everything had to be rebuilt and recreated. Helman begins by painting bare Roots and Germinations, which he exhibits at the Galerie Berri-Raspail, catalog by Maurice Nadeau, and at the Galerie Breteau in April, then in July alongside Jean-Michel Atlan, Pierre Soulages, Hans Hartung, Oscar Dominguez and Henri Gœtz. Catalog by Georges Boudaille.

1949 - Wanting to stay in touch with nature, Robert Helman settled in Saint-Paul de Vence, where he made friends with the poet André Verdet, and also with the Turkish painter Dino Abidine, who lived in Antibes. But he only stayed eight months in Provence, hampered, he said, by the brightness of light, which prevented him from painting. The same year, he exhibited at the Galerie Louis Manteau in Brussels, catalog by Pierre Descargues.

1950 - By decree published in the Journal Officiel on July 15, 1950, Robert and Zéna Helman became  French citizens.

THE LIBERATION OF GESTURE (1950 – 1960)

1951 - First monograph by Jean Bouret, published by Les Gémeaux, "Les Artistes du temps présent" collection. Robert Helman's art is stripped of all figuration, and his gesture gains momentum, but his abstraction remains anchored to reality. The artist never leaves his subject: Genesis in fusion, after giving birth to Roots and Germinations, engenders Trees and Vegetations. The artist wants to convey the emotion of the world's creation through a pictorial shock. The pollen from his Trees finally flies away, giving rise to the "Flight" series.

1952 - Robert Helman meets the Italian art critic Guiseppe Marchiori, who exhibits his work at the Sandri gallery in Venice. He also exhibits his "Envols" at Galerie Mouradian et Valloton in Paris.

1954 – A man of independent spirit, rejecting the influences of the moment, Robert Helman begins his life as a traveling artist, exhibiting at the Agnès Lefort gallery in Montreal and the Elisabeth Nelson gallery in Chicago.

1955-1957 - Robert Helman makes the acquaintance of art dealer Henri Bénézit, who exhibits his work for several years in his rue Miromesnil gallery. The artist's gesture becomes even more liberated, moving towards a "lyrical abstraction", which catches the attention of his friend Pierre Restany. Helman exhibits at Galerie Ex-Libris in Brussels, Galerie Muratore in Nice, Galerie Sous-Barri in Saint-Paul de Vence, Ben Uri Gallery in London, Galerie Apollinaire and Galerie Blu in Milan, and Nicole Gallery in New York (texts by Pierre Restany and Jacques Lassaigne).

1959 - Publication of the monograph "HELMAN" by Philippe Soupault, Le Musée de Poche collection. Exhibitions in Paris at La Hune, Galerie Charpentier, Greer Gallery in New York, where he meets De Kooning. The Tate Gallery in London acquires a work. 

 THE FORESTS - YEARS OF PLENITUDE (1960 -1970)

1961-1963 - Robert Helman befriends art dealer G. Di San Lazzaro, who exhibits his work in his XXth Century Gallery. This was a time of deep, dense, mysterious and teeming Forests. Helman expressed all the poetic mysteries of the jungle. Light penetrates only to illuminate the essential. He uses the "Rembrandt green", whose density gives his Forests a rare depth. He exhibited again at Galeria Blu in Milan, then at Galerie Parti-Pris in Grenoble, Galerie Il Traghetto in Venice, Galerie Il Centro in Naples, Galerie Cavalero in Antibes and Galerie Hilt in Basel. Texts by Jacques Lassaigne, Charles Estienne and André Verdet in the Revue du XXème siècle.

1964 - In the summer of 64, Robert Helman falls under the spell of a forest, near Troyes, which reminds him of his childhood landscapes in Romania. He buys a secluded old farmhouse surrounded by ancient trees, which becomes his summer studio. That year, his works are shown at the Lutz & Meyer gallery in Stuttgart, the Beno D'Incelli gallery in Paris and the Sala Gaspar in Barcelona.

1965-1969 - On a trip to Mexico, Robert Helman discovers wood bark paper, an ideal material for a painter who has made trees and forests his central theme. He buys several rolls and paints a series of trees and forests on this new medium. He exhibits again at the Beno D'Incelli gallery in Paris, the Stewart-Verde gallery in San Francisco, the Saint-Paul de Vence museum, the Santa Maria gallery in Rome and L'Entracte gallery in Lausanne. A first Retrospective, curated by Haïm Gamzu, pays tribute to his work at the Dizengof Museum in Tel-Aviv. During his visit to Israel, he creates a series of tapestries in Itche Mambush's studio in the artists' village of Ein Hod. He will exhibit them in New York in 1972.

MATURITY: THE PURIFICATION OF SIGNS (1970 - 1980)

1972 - Starting in the 1970s, Robert Helman began to paint with acrylics, gradually abandoning oil. This enabled him to achieve new transparencies and subtle nuances of color, which would benefit his "Imaginary Landscapes of Genesis". These pure works celebrate the beauty of the world. He exhibits at La Bussola gallery in Turin and at the Greer and Allan Rich galleries in New York and Los Angeles.

1973 - Exhibition at the Château-Musée de Cagnes-sur-Mer and La Seggiola Gallery in Salerno. Robert Helman creates a series of tapestries at Manufacture d'Aubusson (atelier Pinton).

1974 - Robert Helman befriends art critic André Parinaud. He exhibits jointly at Galerie Albert Verbeke and Galerie Jacques Verrière, then at Galerie Kar in Toronto and Galerie Interarte in Genoa.

1976-1980 - Publication of a major monograph by Max-Pol Fouchet, published by Cercle d'Art. Helman exhibits his « Genesis » in Paris at Artcurial, then a series of "femmes-arbres" at Galerie Bellint, also at Galerie Gordon in Tel-Aviv, Galerie Guglielmo Tell in Chiasso and at the Fiera Internazionale in Bologna.

1981-1982 Art dealer Sami Tarica introduces Helman to Wolfgang Gunther, head of the Limmer gallery in Freiburg (now based in Cologne), marking the start of a long collaboration that will enable Helman to show his work on the other side of the Rhine. Helman also exhibited at the Rayuela Gallery in Madrid, then at the Siete-Siete Gallery in Caracas, at Brenner's Park-Hotel in Baden-Baden, at the Becher Gallery in Wuppertal and again at the Greer Gallery in New York. He befriends the poet Alain Bosquet, who dedicates him a poem published in a double-page in Connaissance des Arts.

1983 - Major retrospective "HELMAN - Forty Years of Painting" organized by the Art Modern Museum of Paris, curated by Jean Duvignaud and Françoise Marquet.  This was an opportunity to bring back from abroad many works unknown to the French public. At the same time, Robert Helman exhibits gouaches at Galerie Michelle Heyraud and Galerie Scherer in Freiburg.

1984 - Robert Helman loses his left eye opening a bottle of champagne. A succession of surgeries weakens him, but he bravely picks up his brushes again and begins his "Suns" series, a return to the theme of his early work. He exhibits them at the Limmer Gallery in Freiburg, which also shows them at the Basel International Fair. The Mayanot Gallery in Jerusalem also pays tribute to his work.

1986 - Robert Helman meets art dealer Alain Digard, who exhibits his work for three years at Galerie La Pochade. Helman's work is also shown at Galerie Nickel-Odéon in Paris, catalog by Pierre Brisset, at Galerie Limmer in Freiburg, and at the Palais des Congrès in Megève.

ROBERT HELMAN SCULPTOR

1988 - Retired in Champagne, Robert Helman devotes himself to metal sculpture, visiting the forge every day. He produces numerous pieces, some of which are cast in bronze in France and Italy and exhibited a few months later at La Pochade gallery and Michelle Heyraud gallery in Paris.

1990 – Cartier Foundation pays tribute to Robert Helman on his 80th birthday. Retrospective at Galerie Eterso in Cannes, catalog by Jean-Marie Tasset. Robert Helman dies on November 7, 1990 at his home in Champagne at the age of 80