In 1903, Jacques Collas was born in Liège (Belgium).  His father was also born in the same city and his mother was of Dutch origin.  She often used to show him Leeuwarden (Holland).  Therefore he spent quite a part of his boyhood in Friesland (area of Leeuwarden) where he probably felt his first attraction to the seaside.  Many of his paintings are very much refined by this very basic sort of influence.

He attended the Liège Athénée Royal where he finalized the classical modern school leaving-certificated.

He married very young and became a clerck in the Town Hall services.

Afterwards Jacques Collas attended drawing and painting courses and lectures in the Beaux-Arts Academy of Liège.  Some of his lecturers and professors were Mister Poissinger and Auguste Mambour.

His spare times were mainly devoted to friendly associations like "Les Amis de la Nature" or groups with common feelings and interest with other artists as Ludovic Jansen, Robert Crommelynck, Fernand Vetcour, Richard Heintz.  "Les Fagnes" and the Ardennes forests (Belgium) were often their main and favoured landscapes as strong inspiration for their paintings.

Jacques Collas later became involved in the Brussels business world and had to travel quite a lot.  He painted what he had missed in France, in Holland, in Italy and in Spain.

He retired in the country, in occidental Hainaut (Belgium), living in an old farm where he fit up his studio.  He finally was able to concentrate on his passion for drawing and painting and produced many still-lifes and local sceneries.  He passed away in 1986.

Because of his reserved nature, he didn't show his works like he ought have done, wich is unfortunate because he would have had, when alive, the confirmation of his genuine talent.