Zainul Abedin was born at a village in Kishoreganj in 1914. His father Tamijuddin was a police officer. He did not like hard and fast rule of school and so he drew pictures secretly. He had a great interest in art. So at the age of 15 he went to Calcutta to see Art school. At the age of 19 he was admitted into Calcutta Government Art College. In 1938 he became first class first in the art college and in the same year he was awarded gold medal in All India Art Exhibition. He drew a lot of picture of famine during the Second World War in 1949. His name and fame spread all over the world from then. In 1948 he founded the Dhaka Art Institution in Dhaka. He was appointed principal of this institution in 1949 This institution was shifted to the present Art institute building in 1956. By dint of his hard effort, within seven years this institution turned charukala Mahabiddaloya. He retired from this institution in 1967. He became visiting professor of Dhaka University in 1973. He earned honorary doctorate in 1974 from Delhi University and in the same year he became National Professor of Bangladesh. He died on the 28th May in 1976 in Dhaka.