Born into a family of doctors in Xiao County, Jiangsu Province, Ju De-chiun attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou in 1935. He learned Chinese painting with Pan Tianshou and Western painting with Wu Da-yu and Fang Gan-min. Zao Wou-ki and Wu Guan-zhong also attended the same academy during his time there. Ju taught at the Central University in Nanjing and the National Taiwan Normal University. He came to Taiwan in 1949 and left for Paris in March, 1955. In 1957, his portrait of his wife Dong Jing-jao in the classic style, Portrait of Jing-jao, won the silver award at the Paris Salon du Printemps. In 1997, he was awarded with a membership of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. During more than 200 years of the prestigious institution, it was the very first time that a membership was given to a Chinese artist. In 2001, he was awarded by the French Ministry of Education with Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques. In 2006, he won European Award for Outstanding Talents. He is one of the most renowned Chinese artists in the world.

Ju’s painting style is free and ebullient. Although he adopts the form of Western abstract painting, his work actually continues the spirit and concept of Chinese painting. His bold and unconstrained strokes create an obscure space with light and colors. The image of his work seems endless and all-encompassing like Nature. Between forms and figures, his work seems to be the chaos before the world was formed, filled with all possibilities. It is also like a traceable road that does not lead to a destination, but to the starting point instead. That is where Ju’s paintings transport us—a world that has not taken form yet.

In mainland China, Ju began with the Realist style and admired the masterpieces of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period. As he taught in Taipei, his exploration in abstract art gradually shifted from simple geometry and symbols to landscapes of lyrical abstraction. In 1956, there was a turning point for Ju’s artistic style. He went to see Russian abstract artist Nicolas de Staël’s retrospective exhibition. Inspired by Staël’s expressive style, Ju determined to explore a more unrestrained art form. During his time living in Paris, he focused more on the expressiveness of his media and paid attention to the dim light and composition of his image. His oil paint got more fluid and organic while his brushes more powerful. His painting demonstrates a natural flow, energy and passion, unbound by common principles or theories of painting. In summary, he follows the spiritual aesthetics of the East and the rhythmic beauty of Chinese calligraphy, combines them with his Western art training about lighting, volumes and textures, sometimes puts in his own musical space of imagination, and thus creates his personal style.