Zoltán Klie was a visual artist born in 1897 in the city of Szekszárd. His first education was between 1918–1922 where he studied at the Faculty of Medicine at Péter Pázmány University in Budapest. Starting in 1922 he moved to the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts where he was one of János Vaszary's pupils. Later he obtained a scholarship from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education and studied in Paris between 1925−1927.

     He was a core member of the New Society of Artist (KUT) and a founding member of the Association of New Artists (UME), where he later became its vice president. He was also a correspondent member of the Vienna-based Künstlerbund Hagen. In 1930 he had a comprehensive exhibition at the Ernst Museum and was regularly present at the exhibitions of the KUT and UME. His works were selected for display at representative Hungarian contemporary exhibitions in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Bochum, Warsaw, Krakow, and Florence. He also exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1928 and 1942, the UME exhibition in the National Salon, and won the grand prize at Hírlap's painting competition in Budapest in 1930, the Gallery for "Hungarian Art" exhibition in 1942, and the Exhibition of Hungarian Artists in the Charles Palace in 1947.
    His works are characteristically rich in colours, decorative and convey post-impressionistic tone. For a while, he was preoccupied with expressionism, and in the early 30s surrealistic elements started to emerge in his paintings as well. Because of this he was sometimes referred to as The Cosmic Painter (A kozmikus festő).

     His awards included a Lake Balaton scholarship in 1938 and 1939 and a Transylvania scholarship in 1942. H also won the watercolour prize of the Ernst Museum in 1925, the painters' prize of the Association of New Artists in 1928, the painters' prize of the competition organized by the Hungarian daily Budapesti Hírlap in 1930, and the prize of the exhibition of City Images in 1940.
    In 1959 an exhibition was organized from his works in the Ernst Museum jointly with Jenő Gábor, Józsa Járitz and István Csillag. He had collected-works exhibitions in the Vigadó Gallery in 1990 and in the Csók Gallery in 1993. In 1990 he was awarded the Hungarian Order of Star decked with a Gold Wreath.