Barli Sasmitawinata is an Indonesian painter born in Bandung on the 18th of March 1921. Barli started his career by learning to paint from the studio that is owned by a Belgian artist, Jos Pluimentz, who spent his life in Bandung. Barli has interest in painting nature &n still life, and he was the only local artist from Indonesia who painted in that Studio. Barli studied art with an Italian Artist named Luigi Nobili. In which he met Affandi at that time. Together with Affandi, Hendra Gunawan, Soedarso, and Wahdi Sumanta, Barli formed “Kelompok Lima Bandung”, a group of Indonesian artists from Bandung. In 1984, he founded art studio called “Sanggar
Seni Rupa Jiwa Mukti”. He started his career as an Illustrator for several newspapers in Bandung. ship from the Dutch Government to study at Academie Grande de la Chaumiere, in Paris”. He continued his study at Rijksacademie voor Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, Netherlands. He worked as an Illustrator for magazines in the Netherlands and Germany while he was studying abroad.

In 1950, Barli got a scholarship from the Dutch Government to study at Academie Grande de la Chaumiere, in Paris”. He continued his study at
Rijksacademie voor Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, Netherlands. In Europe, he found his style of painting, which was mostly the technique of realistic and naturalism paintings and composition of anatomy. He believes that by painting people in a realistic way, we can see the suffering that people have to deal with compared to doing it in an abstract way. During his life, he held many exhibitions, one of them in Galeri Nasional, Jakarta.