[citation needed] Merton was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he studied at the Canterbury College School of Art.
[1] (Owen Merton is described in his son Thomas' famous spiritual autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain.)
He painted in England and France until 1916, when the First World War caused him and his family to relocate with his in-laws in the vicinity of Flushing, Long Island, where he worked briefly as a landscape gardener.
After returning to Europe during 1923, Owen Merton was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists.
[3] Paintings by Owen Merton are on permanent display in galleries around the world, most particularly in the Museum of New Zealand.