Douwe Jan van der Zweep was a Dutch artist who was born in Utrecht on 10 April 1890. He died in Utrecht on 4 February 1975. Van der Zweep studied lithography in Utrecht in his youth. He also went to the Kunstnijverheidsschool (Art Academy) in Utrecht. Encouraged by Gerrit Rietveld, he developed himself as an artist, using abstract shapes in his drawings and paintings. In 1922 he joined the Amsterdam artist collective De Onafhankelijken (The Independents). He was also a member of De Progressieven, a short-lived Utrecht artist collective around 1955.