Lithograph by Jos de Mey, 69/100, '76

Jos de Mey studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. After his studies, in 1950, he was appointed lecturer in interior architecture and colour harmony. In the 1950s and 1960s, he ran his own practice in interior architecture, colour consultancy and furniture design. He became famous for his furniture designs for the firm Van den Berghe-Pauvers. From 1968 he was also active as a painter. He evolved from abstract constructivism to a strong realism with false perspectives, impossible figures and constructions. In his work, figures of René Magritte, Maurits Cornelis Escher and Pieter Breughel the Elder appear. 

The tree of Pythagoras was invented in 1942 by the Dutch mathematics teacher E. Bosman. He asked himself what kind of figure would be created if you drew an isosceles triangle on the top side of a square, and two more squares on its sides, with two more triangles on top, and you kept repeating this. After the fourth repetition, the tree begins to grow inwards. Bosman had thus drawn a fractal, without being aware of it. In 1962, a large-format, colour print of the tree was sent to all subscribers (about 20 000!) of a youth mathematics magazine. A copy came into the hands of Jos De Mey, who was very impressed and devoted years of study to it. Between 1975 and 1978, he made more than 220 drawings with variations on the Pythagorean tree, 60 of which have been developed into watercolours, paintings and lithographs.