Patrick Heron was born in Leeds on January 30th 1920. His father, T. M. Heron, was founder of Cresta Silks and a Christian Socialist. Patrick Heron's early years (1925-9) were spent in St. Ives, Cornwall. In 1937 he joined the Slade School in London, and studied there part-time until the start of the war, the entire duration of which acted as a disruption to his painting. From 1940 until 1944 he worked as an agricultural labourer. Then, in 1945, he started to work as an assistant at Bernard Leach pottery, St. Ives. Later in this year he settled in London and began to paint again. This was also the year that he started to write as an art critic for the New English Weekly. In 1946 he saw an exhibition of Braque's work at the Tate, which deeply impressed him, and was to have a strong effect on his work.

In 1947 he became art critic for the New Statesman and Nation and, in addition, had his first solo show of his paintings, at Downing's Bookshop in St. Ives. In the early 1950s (1953-6) he taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, and then in 1955 published the book, 'The Changing Forms of Art'.

Heron's work developed, throughout his lifetime, from a figurative style influenced by Matisse and Braque, into a much more abstract, bright and fun style, which was concerned form over content. However, even with these developments taken into consideration, one can see overlapping points in everything he did, and all that influenced him. There are links for example, between his father's trade, his own foray into textile design, and Matisse's own fascination with colour and textiles.