Vic Gentils was educated as a painter at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and was initially influenced by expressionism, but quickly evolved to cubism and abstraction. He was also fascinated by African art which he had gotten to know at an exhibition in the KMSK of Antwerp in 1956. Two years later he made his first abstract relief consisting out of old profiled frames, which he exhibited in the form of triptychs. He began wood-working with a burner whereby it got a different aspect. Furthermore he became a founding member of the group G58 in 1958 which started exhibiting in the Antwerp Hessenhuis. In 1960 he joined together with among others Van Anderlecht and Vandenbranden the group de Nieuwe Vlaamse School (the New Flemish School). Before his assemblage begun he used to make recycled materials from piano’s, railings, closets etc. From 1964 onward he developed complete three dimensional ensembles with a figurative approach. With his hommage portraits and with historically inspired works he gained international fame. Besides assemblages he kept on painting and making brass sculptures and terracotta as well as lithography’s, collages and gouaches.