Early Life and Education of Robert Swain Born on December 7, 1940, in Austin, Texas, Robert Swain spent his formative years in Arlington, Virginia. During his teenage years, his developing eye was shaped by the collections housed in the Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art. The presence of works by Raphael, Rembrandt, and Vermeer provided a foundational visual language that would inform his later explorations of color. His path w…