b. 12 February 1914, Ngolo (Shaba/Katanga Province), Belgian Congo, now Democratic Republic of the Congo | d. 10 March 2007, Kinshasa, DRC Lived and worked in Katanga region Pili Pili Mulongoy was a celebrated Congolese painter whose art captured the lush vitality of his homeland through meticulously vibrant depictions of nature. Raised in a fishing family in Katanga, he began his career as a plumber and building painter before joining the Hangar Workshop in Lubumbashi in 1947 under the mentorship of Pierre Romain Desfossés. There, alongside contemporaries like Mwenze Kibwanga and Bela Sara, he honed his technique, specializing in richly patterned flora and fauna rendered in bold, repetitive brushwork. Later, he taught at the Académie des Beaux Arts in Lubumbashi, influencing a generation of Congolese artists. His art became popular not only in the Belgian Congo but also internationally, with works acquired by European collectors and royalty. His paintings have been shown in exhibitions from the Hotel Memling in Kinshasa and Fondation Cartier in Paris to Artcurial in Brussels and Monaco, and are held in prominent collections including The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. Often described as the “sorcerer of African luxuriance,” Mulongoy’s work is famed for its dreamlike, ornamental landscapes populated with wildlife and vegetal forms that convey moral narratives and the fleeting beauty of life.