Václav Tikal became established as a painter and ceramicist in the second half of the 1930s. He was already thirty when he was admitted to the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, first in the studio of Vratislav Nejezchleba and later that of Jakub Obrovský. At the end of the 1930s he became strongly influenced by Surrealism, and chiefly by Salvador Dali and Giorgio de Chirico, whose imaginative approach was closely reflected in his own work. Having been someone for whom painting was a hobby prior to his years at the Academy, Tikal suddenly started to move in the centre ground of artistic activity. He joined the group Ra and was later part of the Phases and UDS movements. Almost immediately after the end of World War II he took part in most of the thematic exhibitions and his works were also shown abroad on several occasions. After 1950 he kept a low profile and stopped painting, preferring to devote himself to design and ceramics, some of which were displayed at the Brussels Exhibition in 1958. From the mid-fifties he started to paint again but broke away from is previous stylistic direction.