Born in Central Java (1919 – 2002, Indonesia), Widayat studied at Akademi Seni Rupa Indonesia (ASRI) in Yogyakarta, where one of his teachers was Hendra Gunawan. While there, Widayat founded Pelukis Indonesia Muda group in 1952. The artist’s magical-decorative paintings were inspired by primitive art. Using naïve forms, he took small and simple themes as the main subjects of his works.