Hans Salentin is born in Düren in 1925. He already has intensive contact with various art teachers during his years at high school. From 1947 to 1949 he studies at the private state-approved painting school of Jo Strahn in Dusseldorf-Niederkassel. Between 1950 and 1954 he studies at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf, and attends the class of Paul Bindel. Post-graduate he works as an art teacher in Cologne. From 1955 onwards, Mack, Piene and Salentin, fellow students from the paining class of Paul Bindel, are already sharing a studio on Gladbacher Strasse in Dusseldorf. In 1956 during a trip to Paris, he becomes acquainted with Yves Klein. In 1957 he becomes a member of the Gruppe 53. Hans Salentin must incontestably be counted among the founders of the ZERO-movement. In the aftermath of the 4th evening exhibition of the artist group in September 1957, he is naturally also present at its naming in a Düsseldorfer pub. His collaboration with Piene and Mack, among other members of the movement, spans many years and he contributes significantly to numerous group shows in Germany, as well as internationally. In 1963 he receives with the ZERO group the first price of the San Marino Biennale. Between 1959 and 1961 he creates the Dachziegelreliefs (roof tiles reliefs). His roofing-tile relief sculptures are composed of whole tiles, occasionally also of tile fragments, arranged in various combinations on a bed of cement. They are subsequently covered in a white coat of paint, which creates a subtle interplay of light and shadows. Thereby, the intense plurality of forms is impressed upon the viewer. Up until 1965, his reliefs assembled from roofing tiles, zinc and aluminium provided a consistent component of the ZERO exhibitions. In 1961 three Dachziegelreliefs are reviewed in the journal ZERO 3. Later  Salentin aparts from the Gruppe 53  and explores new three-dimensional styles in cast aluminium, plastic and other materials. Throughout the course of his work, Salentin made use of the design principles of collage and assemblage, in addition to exploring the transformation of an objet trouvé  into an objet corrigé. The latter expression signifies deliberate intervention into a found object, including its overt presentation. In 1976 he becomes a member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund. Between 1981 and 1989 due to health reasons he withdraws from the art scene. But in 1995 he returns to sculpture with medium-sized cardboard and polystyrene reliefs, several of these artworks painted in white relate directly to the Dachziegelreliefs. In 2009 Hans Salentin dies in Cologne.