Dan Flavin was born in 1933 in New York. After serving in the US Air Force as a technician in Korea (1954-55), Flavin returned to New York and attended art history classes at the New School for Social Research (1956) and Columbia University (1957-1959). In 1961 he had his first solo exhibition at the Judson Gallery, New York City. Flavin exhibited nationally and internationally from 1963 onward: the Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1966) and the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, (1968). Flavin's first single large-scale installation was made for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1967). In 1969 his retrospective exhibition opened at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, travelling to the Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, and to the Jewish Museum in New York City. From its inception in 1974, the Dia Art Foundation acquired numerous works by Flavin and supported larger projects at the Kunstmuseum Basel (1975); at New York's Grand Central Station (1977); and a permanent installation at the Baptist Church in Bridgehampton, New York (The Dan Flavin Art Institute) (1983). Flavin died in Riverhead, New York in 1996. Permanent installations, completed after his death are at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas (1998) and at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas (2000). Recently a retrospective was held at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., touring to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Hayward Gallery, London, and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2004-2007).