Alexander Calder combined formal artistic training, a scientific background, and a sense of playfulness to create whimsical constructions in both two and three dimensions. After studying at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, and then at the Art Students League in New York, Calder moved to Paris in 1926. There he associated with members of the European avant-garde, including Joan Miró and Hans Arp. Surrealist, biomorphic abstraction became a mainstay of his work in all media.