André Volten is one of the earliest representatives of abstract sculpture in the Netherlands. He first worked with wood in the flat surface and then in reliefs. From the desire to use the space itself as a component of his sculpture, he then made objects for public space. In preparation for this, he worked from 1954 as a welder at the shipyard of the NDSM, to understand iron and steel as a material and to learn how to work it. André Volten's work is characterized as tight and perfectionistic.