Born in 1922 Douglas MacDiarmid was educated at Canterbury University. An expatriate New Zealander, he has been based in Paris since the late 1940s.

Associated early in his career with the avant-garde Christchurch 'Group' his sense of colour may be attributed to the teachings of Evelyn Page and MacDiarmid's admiration for French painter Matisse. MacDiarmid art is held in public collections throughout New Zealand including the Hocken Library, Christchurch Art Gallery, Victoria University and Te Papa Tongarewa. He exhibited in New Zealand in 1950 with Helen Hitchings Gallery in Wellington and in 1968 a retrospective was held at the QEII Arts Council. His art has also been exhibited in Auckland, Paris, Athens, Casablanca and London.

Refusing to be swept up by any particular French movements, his work of the 1950s and 1960s has been described by his biographer Nelly Finet as "nourished by a certain expressionism which his classical formation kept within reasonable limits." MacDiarmid's inspiration comes from the work of El Greco & Giotto.