Rubem Valentim was born in Salvador in 1922. He grew up there and studied Dentistry and Journalism. In several occasions he related that he began developing his artistic practice at a young age, in the mid-1940s, inspired by everyday elements: the shapes of toys and kites, the ceramics for sale at the historic Água de Meninos market, or the nativity scenes he assembled with his mother. He observed the forms he encountered in the architecture of homes, in objects from ritualistic religions such as Candomblé, and paid attention to the contrast between African and European references present in the city.
These first experiences, combined with canonical references of that time – such as Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall and Cubism –, gave the artist a set of elements from which to create an artistic language with its own features.
In this first phase of his production, Valentim worked with traditional themes and genres, such as landscape, still life and popular culture. In 1949 he participated as a painter in the First Bahia Arts Salon, and from then on he exhibited his works, which were mostly figurative at that time.
In 1954 he had his first solo exhibition in Salvador, and in the next year he took part in the São Paulo Biennial for the first time. Soon after, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he came into contact with other cultural references, such as Umbanda, and adopted a more geometric language.