Fred Couprie (1948-2017), a Dutch painter born in The Hague, studied at the KABK (Royal Academy of Fine Arts) in the same city.
After completing his studies he started as an art teacher in High School.
In the years 1972-1987 he was involved in several etching projects as a member of the Haagse Etsclub (The Hague Etching Club). The group produced a number of portfolios of etchings, with nature as the leading theme.
In 1977-1978 he lived in Italy, in a small town near Rome. In this creative period many drawings were made.
Though he continued working as an artist (mostly mixed techniques on paper), teaching young students remained the most important part of his working life.
In 2011 he started painting in oil, which became a daily search for strong images of men (and sometimes women) in unusual situations. Figurative but not realistic. The paintings are the result of a research in a broad sense to a theme.