Dan Teis (1925–2002) was an American abstract painter whose richly layered work bridged geometric structure and organic spontaneity. Born in 1925, Teis pursued an exceptionally broad artistic education that shaped his cosmopolitan sensibility. After earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri in 1947, he spent three years studying at some of North America's most distinctive institutions: the Taos Valley School of Art in New Mexico, La Esmeralda (the National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking) in Mexico City, and the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo in Morelia, Mexico. He later received a master's degree from the University of Tulsa in 1960 and completed his doctorate in arts education administration from New York University in 1975.

Teis was thoroughly committed to abstraction throughout his career. His paintings characteristically combine geometric and organic forms set against fields of mottled, luminous color, often punctuated by vivid floating dots or diamond shapes that serve as dynamic focal points. He began working with collage in the 1950s, valuing its inherent spontaneity as a catalyst for his broader creative process.

As an educator, Teis taught at East Tennessee University, East Carolina University, the University of Southwestern Louisiana, and the Arkansas Art Center before becoming Chairman of the Department of Art at the University of Delaware in 1974 — a position that brought his work to wider regional attention. A landmark solo exhibition of his large-scale abstract paintings at the Delaware Art Museum that same year marked a turning point, as his work became the first contemporary art to receive significant critical acclaim in the state.

Teis's paintings are held in numerous public collections, including the Delaware Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.