Hans Burkhardt was born in Switzerland in 1904. At a young age he immigrated to the United States and began taking art classes at Cooper Union from 1925 to 1928. He also studied at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. While living in New York he met the artist, Arshile Gorky. Alongside fellow pupil William De Kooking, Burkhardt worked in Gorky’s studio from for over seven years. Gorky’s influence would permeate Burkhardt’s style throughout his career. His expressionistic style often concentrated on themes of intense emotion and the artist often painted subjects surrounding war and death.

Burkhardt moved to Los Angeles in 1937. He eventually began teaching at the University of Southern California. He then became a professor of painting and drawing at the University of California at Los Angeles from 1961 to 1963 and later, at California State University, Northridge. He is one of the most recognized of the California modernists.