Robert Schmid was born in Huntington, Long Island in 1947. After studying chemisty and art at Syracuse University, he moved to Europe in 1971 where he honed his draftsmanship copying Leonardo drawings in the Uffizzi in Florence.

After living variously in Los Angles, London and Marrakesh, he returned to Manhattan in 2008.

Schmid's paintings juxtapose images and ideas drawn from both memory and sense input --both photographic and emotional. Viewers often feel the need to make a narrative 'reading', but it is an elusive dreamlike ambiguity that characterizes his work. What connections can we make between the sky, the sea, light on water, a speeding car, a crowd of people?

Schmid works in a variety of media and has painted on canvas, paper, wood and plastic, using oils and acrylics, airbrush and ordinary brushes.

His work is in collections worldwide.