Wim Kersten was born in Amsterdam in 1908.

Up to his death in 1974 Willem Wander Kersten was a driving force in the modern Dutch art. During World War II he was active in the resistance, for which he received a medal. In those years he discovered the now world famous Gerrit Benner. In 1945 he was himself discovered at the exposition Kunst in Vrijheid by the artists with whom he later founded the "12 Schilders" and "Liga Vrij Beelden" groups. He also founded "contraprestatie" and BKR as curator of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

His works vary widely in style, from the Bergense School and cubistic (pre-war) to surrealism and, uniquely to him, "cubealism", and abstract-expressionistic/lyrical-abstract.