Willem Dolphyn comes from an artistic lineage: father Victor was also a realistic painter and founder of the so-called neoclassical Antwerp School (1962). Willem Dolphyn is also the grandson of the writer Alphonse de Ridder (Willem Elsschot). He was educated at the academy in Antwerp, and was taught by his father, who had a major influence on the development of his style. He has specialized in finely painted flower and fruit still lifes in the style of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish masters.