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Born in 1911 in Halmstad, Sweden, Olle Baertling initially pursued a business career. However, his passion for art led him to explore painting as a self-taught artist. He sought inspiration from various sources, attending art schools in Stockholm and studying under renowned artists in Paris after World War II. French artists like Henri Matisse and the Fauvists, as well as Vincent van Gogh and Carl Kylberg, significantly influenced him. Baertling also ventured to England to study contemporary English art.

In the late 1930s, the exhibition Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Laurens in Stockholm profoundly impacted Baertling's artistic direction, inspiring him to pursue a simpler and more direct approach in his paintings. His encounters with the Parisian art scene further solidified his commitment to abstract art. Baertling's breakthrough as an artist came in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when he exclusively embraced abstract forms and participated in influential exhibitions in Paris. His association with the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and the Groupe Espace further established his position within the European abstract art movement.

By the mid-1950s, Baertling developed his distinctive, geometric style, featuring triangular compositions and exploring the concept of "open form." The acute open angles in his works create optical illusions of movement and make the juxtaposed shapes appear to extend beyond the physical canvas. According to the Olle Baertling Foundation, "The most palpable and active effect in Baertling's art is probably the contrast at the boundaries: when two colours are given a sufficiently long and distinct common boundary, each appears to penetrate some way into the domain of the neighbouring colour. At the boundary itself, they appear to oscillate and flicker" (from "Olle Baertling: Baertling's Art" [online]).

As an abstract artist, Baertling faced challenges on the Swedish art scene, which was dominated by graduates from the more conventional Royal Institute of Art during the mid-20th century. However, collaborations with leading theorists and museum curators, particularly in Paris, helped Baertling find recognition. His early works were showcased at Galerie Denise René and elsewhere. Baertling's interest in the integration of art and architecture led to numerous collaborative projects. Notably, he was commissioned to create a mural for the entrance hall of Stockholm's first high-rise building, where art and architecture merged to form "the aesthetic room." Throughout his career, Baertling continued to design monumental curtains, sculptures, and architectural elements for public spaces.

Baertling's art gained international acclaim through exhibitions in cities like São Paulo, New York, and Paris. His artistic evolution included ambitious projects, such as an unrealized 300-meter-tall television tower in Abu Dhabi. Baertling passed away in 1981, but his legacy endures through an extensive body of work, which serves as a testament to his pioneering role as a visionary artist in the sphere of geometric abstraction and beyond. In 2007-2008, a major traveling retrospective was organized to showcase Baertling's distinguished career at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Norwegian National Museum in Oslo, and Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.