Dan Robbins (2019), paint-by-numbers inventor

Dan Robbins was working at Palmer Paint, a company in Ohio selling children’s paint sets, when he came up with the idea for paint-by-numbers. Palmer Paint’s owner asked Robbins to come up with a paint kit for adults. He heard that da Vinci used numbered background patterns in his work and based paint-by-numbers on that idea. Most of the kits were landscapes but included other designs such as ballerinas and kittens. The kits were a sensation in the mid-1950s but competitors saturated the market and sales greatly decreased. Robbins continued his career in product development, designing happy meal toys for McDonalds. Paint-by-numbers paintings were exhibited at the Smithsonian.