- Born on 8 December 1925 in Mol (B)
- Deceased on 25 November 2014 (Honorary Cemetery Schoonselhof, Antwerp)
- Lived and worked in Antwerp, Zoersel (BE) and Carrara (IT)
| 1933 — 1945 | follows music lessons and gives concerts (clarinet) |
| 1941 — 1947 | follows drawing lessons at Mol Art School |
| 1942 — 1948 | works part-time as photographer and becomes fascinated by light |
| 1947 — 1949 | studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp |
| 1949 | receives the Bugatti Prize for sculpture |
| 1949 — 1955 | studies at the National Higher Institute of Fine Arts Antwerp |
| 1950 | becomes a founding member of cultural society Nevelvlek; participates in magazine Het Kahier |
| 1951 | receives the mastery prize for monumental art |
| 1952 | makes a study trip to Italy |
| 1955 | works in a studio at the Raapstraat (Antwerp), which becomes a meeting place for artists |
| 1957 | receives a bronze medal for ceramics from the city of Liège |
| 1958 | becomes a founding member of the G58-Hessenhuis artists group Antwerp |
| 1958 | receives a gold medal on Expo 58 World’s Fair, Brussels |
| 1958 | makes a study trip to Spain and North Africa |
| 1960 | becomes a member of Nieuwe Vlaamse School (New Flemish School) artists group Antwerp |
| 1962 | studies at the Scuola del Marmo in Carrara (IT) |
| 1965 | is invited by the Henraux Foundation, Querceta (IT) |
| 1970 — 1972 | receives the prize for best exhibition, awarded by art critics |
| 1972 | is made Knight in the Order of Leopold II |
| 1972 — 1974 | receives the prize for best exhibition, awarded by art critics |
| 1974 | makes the “meditative space self-being”, integrated at Middelheim Museum Antwerp |
| 1979 — 1980 | receives invitation for “Symposium Blanc Vencac” near Belgrade (RS) |
| 1985 — 1986 | integrates “meditative space self-being” as a public square in Antwerp |
| 1986 | receives the lifetime achievement award by the Flemish Government |
| 1987 | is made Knight in the Order of the Crown |
| 2016 | becomes Honorary Citizen of Zoersel |
| 2019 | re-fabrication meditative space self-being in Middelheimmuseum, Antwerp |
selection of exhibitions in Belgium
| 1955 | Ghent, Design Museum |
| 1956 | Antwerp, Cercle Artistique |
| 1958 | Antwerp Hessenhuis, first exhibition of G58 artists group |
| 1959 | Ostend, Museum of Fine Arts |
| 1960 | Antwerp, CAW, Nieuwe Vlaamse School |
| 1961 | Antwerp, Middelheim Museum, Biennale |
| 1961 | Ghent, St. Peter’s Abbey, Forum 61 |
| 1961 | Tongeren, Gallo-Roman Museum |
| 1962 | Antwerp, Ad Libitum Gallery |
| 1963 | Gent, St. Peter’s Abbey, Forum 63 |
| 1965 | Antwerp, Middelheim Museum, Biennale |
| 1968 | Brussels, Accent Gallery |
| 1969 | Brussels, Bozar |
| 1971 | Antwerp, Jeanne Buytaert Gallery |
| 1973 | Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, G58-Hessenhuis |
| 1973 | Antwerp, ICC, Biënnale van de Kritiek |
| 1974 | Antwerp, Middelheim Museum, Belgian Sculpture |
| 1976 | Charleroi, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Aspect 2 |
| 1977 | Kessel, De Dobbelhoef Gallery |
| 1978 | Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Eros and Fertility |
| 1979 | Gent, St. Peter’s Abbey, The Sixties – Art in Belgium |
| 1980 | Brussels, Royal Museum of Fine Arts,150 Years of Belgian Art in the Collection |
| 1981 | Ghent, Design Museum, Ceramics in Belgium ’45-’60 |
| 1983 | Antwerp, De Groote Witte Arend Gallery |
| 1984 | Brussels, Bozar, Retrospective |
| 1986 | Puurs, Schaliënhoeve Gallery |
| 1987 | Antwerp, Gallery XXI |
| 1988 | Beerse, Janssen Pharmaceutics |
| 1989 | Brussels, Bozar, Belfius Bank Art Collection |
| 1992 | Brussels, Amarylis Gallery |
| 1993 | Turnhout, CC De Warande, The Museum |
| 1995 | Brussels, Contemporary Art Fair, in collaboration with ’t Leerhuys Gallery Bruges |
| 1998 | Mechelen, CC A. Spinoy, an artifice on 1968 |
| 1999 | Antwerp, Het Elzenveld – Sint-Jorispand |
| 2002 | Zoersel, De Bijl House of Culture |
| 2008 | Mechelen, City Museums, From Your Time? Artifices on ’58 |
| 2010 | Bornem, non-profit organization Monumental, Without Label |
| 2012 | Antwerp, M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art, New Art in Antwerp 1958-1962: The Attic Myth |
| 2013 | Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Koningin Fabiolazaal, The Moderns |
| 2015 | Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Koningin Fabiolazaal, The Moderns Selected |
| 2016 | Zoersel, De Bijl House of Culture, lifetime achievement exhibition “Jan Dries be-licht” |
| 2016 | Antwerp, Callewaert-Vanlangendonck Gallery |
| 2016 | Brussels, Belfius Bank Art Gallery, Recollection, Art & Fashion |
| 2016 | Schilde, Museum Albert Van Dyck, selection from the Province of Antwerp collection |
| 2017 | Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts at MAS, Encounters of a Future Kind |
| 2017 | G58 & ZERO, Europeans avant la lettre, Campo, Antwerp |
| 2017 | Brussels, La Patinoire Royale, Sculpting Belgium |
| 2018 | Antwerp, Callewaert-Vanlangendonck Gallery, about 60 years G58-Hessenhuis |
| 2018 | Antwerp, DIVA Museum, Room of Wonder 1 - Axel Vervoordt |
| 2019 | Brussels, Belfius Bank Art Gallery, Magma Cloud Ashes |
| 2019 | Antwerp, Callewaert Vanlangendonck Gallery, Jan Dries – 'It is as light as it is dark' |
| 2019 | Brussels, La Patinoire Royale / Galerie Valérie Bach, Jan Dries – ‘infinite end' |
| 2019 | Antwerp, Middelheimmuseum, re-fabrication meditative space self-being, and opening new collection pavilion |
| 2020 | Antwerp, Callewaert Vanlangendonck Gallery, Cercle et Carré |
| 2021 | Ostend, MuZee, Trance-Action, a meditative stroll through the collection |
| 2021 | Antwerp, Callewaert-Vanlangendonck Gallery, Inner Circle |
| 2022 | Antwerp, Delen Private Bank, Expo 85, 85 jaar Belgische kunst |
| 2022 | Brussels, Art Brussels, stand Callewaert Vanlangendonck Gallery |
| 2022 | Brussels, BRAFA Art Fair, stand La Patinoire Royale Galerie Valérie Bach |
| 2022 | Antwerp, Callewaert Vanlangendonck Gallery |
| 2023 | Antwerp, Callewaert Vanlangendonck Gallery, New Flemish School |
| 2024 | Brussels, BRAFA Art Fair, stand Galerie La Patinoire Royale Bach |
| 2024 | Antwerp, Delen Private Bank, Connecting Generations |
| 2024 | Antwerp, Callewaert Vanlangendonck Gallery, Nuove tendenze degli artisti belgi |
selection of exhibitions abroad
| 1955 | Addis Abbeba (ET) – Hilversum (NL) – Londen (UK) – Paris (FR) |
| 1956 | Rotterdam (NL), Het Venster Gallery |
| 1957 | Berlin (DE) – Rotterdam (NL) – Stockholm (SE) – Utrecht (NL) |
| 1959 | Milan (IT), Galleria Pagani – Nuove Tendenze Belgi |
| 1960 | Milan (IT) – Paris (FR) |
| 1960 | Rotterdam (NL), Delta Gallery |
| 1962 | Carrara (IT), Biennale Internazionale di Scultura |
| 1963 | Frankfurt (DE), D. Gallery, Europäische Avantgarde |
| 1964 | Firenze (IT), Galleria d’Arte Numero, Mostra Internazionale d’Arte d’Avanguardia |
| 1966 | Rotterdam (NL), Rotterdam Art Foundation, 8 from Antwerp |
| 1973 | Maastricht (NL), Bonnefantenmuseum, Young Sculpture from Belgium |
| 1974 | Reims (FR), Musées de Reims, Art belge contemporain |
| 1975 | Cologne (DE), Das Belgisches Haus |
| 1976 | Paris (FR), La Derive Gallery |
| 1978 | Düsseldorf (DE), Kunstpalast Ehrenhof |
| 1980 | Belgrade (RS), small sculptures, on occasion of the General Unesco Conference |
| 1981 | Breda (NL), De Raam Gallery |
| 1982 | Le Havre (FR), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rencontre 82, l’Art belge depuis 1945 |
| 1986 | Venlo (NL), Van Bommel Van Dam Museum |
| 1988 | Utrecht (NL), Museum of Contemporary Art |
| 1993 | Le Paradou (FR), L’Espace d’art du Paradou |
| 1995 | Saint-Setiers (FR), La Pommerie Cultural Centre |
| 1995 | Arhus (DK), Musikhuset, in collaboration with Euro-Marmo-Scultura |
| 1998 | Neuchâtel (CH), Palazzo delle Esposizione |
| 1998 | Berlin (DE), Willy Brandt Haus |
| 2001 | Düsseldorf (DE), Dresdner Bank, Metafisica della Forma |
| 2001 | Geneva (CH), UN building, Metafisica della Forma |
| 2014 | Würzburg (DE), Museum im Kulturspeicher, Weiß - Aspekte einer Farbe in Moderne und Gegenwart |
| 2015 | Würzburg (DE), Museum im Kulturspeicher, Rendezvous der Länder – Neupräsentation der Sammlung Peter C. Ruppert – Konkrete Kunst in Europa nach 1945 |
| 2015 | Venice (IT), Biennale, Palazzo Fortuny, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and Axel & May Vervoordt Foundation, Proportio |
| 2018 | Shanghai (CN), Natural History Museum, From Natural Wonders to Art Treasures |
| 2018 | Flassans-sur-Issole (FR), Galerie et parc de sculpture de la Commanderie Peyrassol, Surfaces à Face(s) |
| 2020 — 2023 | The Hague (NL), Embassy of Belgium, i.c.w. National Bank of Belgium |
| 2023 | Seravezza (Lucca) (IT), Presenze, Fondazione Arkad |
collections
- Antwerp University – UFSIA
- Axel and May Vervoordt Foundation, Wijnegem (BE)
- Belfius Bank, Brussels
- BNP-Paribas-Fortis Bank, Brussels
- Centre de la Gravure et de l'Image imprimée de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles / La Louvière
- Chateau Malescasse, Lamarque (F)
- Cinema Astrid, Antwerp
- City of Belgrade (ex-YU)
- City of Rotterdam (NL)
- Cockerill Shipyards, Ougrée
- De Lijn, Antwerp
- Dipros Property Management, Belgrade (RS)
- Fibac, Berchem
- Flemish Community
- Flemish Community, Ferraris Building, Brussels
- Province of Antwerp
- Janssen Pharmaceutics, Beerse
- KLM, Amsterdam (NL)
- Magritte Museum, Brussels
- MBZ nv – Port Authority, Zeebrugge
- Middelheim Museum, Antwerp
- Mol Municipality
- Mondriaanhouse, Amersfoort (NL)
- Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen (NL)
- Museum Het Sterckshof, Antwerpen
- Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg (D), collection Peter Ruppert
- Muzee Museum, Ostend
- National Bank of Belgium, Brussels
- OCMW, City of Antwerp
- Permeke Library, Antwerp
- Penitentiairy Center, Bruges
- Philips Eindhoven/Amsterdam (NL)
- Proctor & Gamble, European Technical Center, Brussels
- Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp
- Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels
- RTBF (Radio Télévision Belge de la communauté Française), Brussels
- SCK-CEN, Mol
- Sint-Lievenscollege, Gent
- SMH Omega, Brussels
- Town Musea, Kortrijk
- Zoersel Municipality
- Numerous private collections in Belgium and abroad