George Diederick During (8 January 1917 – 6 August 1991) was a notable South African painter whose work spanned over four decades. Born in Roodepoort, Transvaal, he completed his matriculation at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg in 1933. After a brief trip to Europe, he pursued higher education at the University of the Witwatersrand, obtaining a BA LLB in 1940. Following two years in his father's legal firm, During's passion for art led him to enroll at the Witwatersrand Technical College in 1944, where he studied under Belgian émigré artist Maurice van Essche. Van Essche, who had a profound influence on During's artistic development, encouraged his students to depict African subjects through a modernist lens.