One of the most radical artists of the early 20th century, Sophie Taeuber-Arp was born in Davos, Switzerland. She left home at 18 to study textile design in Germany and remained there a half-dozen years, during which time she was inspired by the innovative experiments of the German expressionists.

By 1915 Taeuber was producing paintings that were totally abstract-or, as she preferred to call them (since they were not abstracted from something else), "concrete." That same year she moved back to Switzerland and met the French sculptor, painter, and poet Jean Arp, whom she later married and with whom she collaborated on many artistic projects. Between 1916 and 1919, Taeuber-Arp was active in Zurich's dada group, dancing in its antiestablishment "performances." Dance was an integral part of Taeuber-Arp's life; she studied with the modern-dance pioneer Rudolf von Laban and became close friends with his assistant, Mary Wigman. Constantly exploring different media and techniques, Taeuber-Arp also produced innovative theatrical designs, embroideries, weavings, and sculptures.

After World War I, many of Taeuber-Arp's friends and colleagues moved to Paris, the headquarters of the European avant-garde. However, financial considerations forced her to remain in Zurich, where she had been a professor of textile design at the School of Applied Arts since 1916. An important commission to design the interior of Strasbourg's Café de l'Aubette gave Taeuber-Arp the wherewithal to move to Meudon, near Paris, in 1928. This marked the beginning of the most productive period in the artist's life. She joined a number of artists' organizations, edited and wrote for radical publications, and exhibited her work throughout Europe. Taeuber-Arp and her husband fled to southern France when the Nazis invaded Paris. In late 1942 they returned to Zurich, where she died the following year.