Dullah was born in Solo in 1919. This self made artist has once admitted that Affandi and S.Soedjojono were his great teachers, but in fact his creations which obviously followed the school of realism were quite divergent to the works of the above two great masters. Since the early days of the independence, Dullah was very close to Soekarno, the first President of the Republic of Indonesia.

He was therefore appointed by Soekarno to take care of all of the Presidents art posessions and at the same time as curator of the state painting collections. He often accompanied the president on his trips here at home as well as abroad.

It was Dullah who selected 206 paintings from Soekarno's private collections with China experts photographed and then reproduced in the "deluxe" two volume oversize monograph in a very limited edition printed in the People's Republic of China in 1956. The text by Soekarno and Dullah was in four languages: Indonesian, Chinese, English and Russian. Due to the limited  edition (only 6000 copies) the two volumes of 'de luxe' monographs were only distributed to selected individuals and art collectors, and the supply was soon exhausted. (The second publication of President Soekarno's art collection was in five volumes, compiled by artist painter Lee Man Fong, printed in Japan in de luxe edition, and widely sold and distributed throughout the Republic,) 

After no longer in charge of  President Soekarno's art collections, Dullah removed to his hometown Solo and settled there with his family, but spent most of his creative time in Bali together with a group of his pupils. The group settled in Ubud and then moved to Pejeng. Dullah also run an art gallery in Mas where most of his good works were on display for sales. Many of his paintings were bought by the foreign tourists and the local art colectors which made his name widely famous as a prominent realistic artist painter in Indonesia. 

At the age of 70, Dullah built his  museum in Solo all by his own without any financial succour from the government or other private institutions. This was done as his dedication to a love of the arts over a creative lifetime.

All Dullah's painting exhibited in this museum are breathtaking in their scope and sensitive in their drama.

In 1996 Dullah peacefully passed away in this place, bequething to the next art loving generation to come,  his own ' one man built' museum which now proudly stands as a cultural landmark, open to any visitor with a love for the arts.