In larger works, one or more figures are placed in anonymous, typically urban environments such as a street corner, bus, or diner.

He attended Stuyvesant High School, as well as the Pratt Institute, the Cooper Union, and New York University, from which he graduated in 1949 with a teaching degree.

[2] In 1946, he married Helen Steinberg and they bought another chicken farm in South Brunswick, New Jersey, where he lived for the rest of his life.

[3] During the few years he ran the chicken farm, Segal held annual picnics at the site to which he invited his friends from the New York art world.

Allan Kaprow coined the term happening to describe the art performances that took place on Segal's farm in the Spring of 1957.