Walter Nobbe was born in 1941 in Malang, Indonesia. In 1950, his family moved to the Netherlands. He studied art at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague from where he graduated in 1963 as a professor of art. He began his career combining teaching and painting, but later concentrated on painting. Nobbe’s work is represented in museums and galleries in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, as well as in private collections.

In 1972, he started to design for dance with the Netherlands Dance Theater, for which he has designed ballets for Cliff Keuter, Jiří Kylián and Nacho Duato. Productions he has designed for Jiří Kylián include Sinfonietta, Dream Dances, Torso, and Overgrown Path. For Nacho Duato, he designed Danza, Bolero, and Arenal, among others.

Outside the Netherlands, he has worked frequently with Christopher Bruce for dance companies throughout the world, including Ballet Rambert, the English National Ballet (London Festival Ballet), the Cullberg Ballet, Gulbenkian, and the Houston Ballet.

Overgrown Path is Nobbe’s third work to enter American Ballet Theatre’s repertoire since Torso (1982) and Sinfonietta (1991).