Charlotte (Lotti) van der Gaag was born on December 18, 1923 in The Hague and died on February 19, 1999 in Nieuwegein.

Van der Gaag started sculpting in the 1940s at the insistence of the painter Bram Bogart, with whom she lived at the time. Lotti took lessons at the Royal Academy of Art and at the Vrije Academie in The Hague. Lotti worked alternately in The Hague and in Paris (with a scholarship granted to her by the French government).

In 1950 she moved to Paris, where she came into contact with members of the Cobra movement, such as Corneille and Karel Appel, through Simon Vinkenoog. She was strongly influenced by Cobra in her work, especially when it came to her fantasy figures. In 1951 she took some lessons in the studio of Ossip Zadkine. In 1952 her work was shown in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Afterwards, her work was also exhibited in various Dutch and Parisian museums and galleries. Van der Gaag started painting in 1974. Fantasy figures continued to dominate in her work. She is considered part of the CoBrA movement, but Corneille objected to her becoming a member of the Cobra movement. She has therefore never participated in joint exhibitions.

Lotti Van der Gaag was undeniably a multi-talented player. She was a sculptor, ceramicist, painter and draftsman and practiced everything with equal creative energy and success.

Van der Gaag won the Jacob Maris Prize for her work in 1958 and the Ouborg Prize in 1993.