A painter and sculptor, Burgoyne Diller was one of the first---perhaps the first---American artists to include geometric designs in his work. Although basically known for being an artist in non-objective styles, he was also Director of the Mural Division of the New York City Federal Arts project until 1941. In this capacity, he was highly regarded for his efficiency, and for finding work for many of the artists that became leading early 20th-century names such as Arshile Gorky and Stuart Davis.

He was born in New York City and from 1928 to 1932, studied at the Art Students League where he was much influenced by Cubism and then with Hans Hoffmann, who pioneered Abstract Expressionism. In the early 1930s, Diller began making geometric art, having been much influenced by the Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian who combined vertical and horizontal lines with bright colors. Although the Mondrian influence has been documented, Diller went to great pains to deny it, claiming to be original.

He was one of the original members of the American Abstract Artists, a New York group dominated by geometric painters.

Diller's paintings and sculpture basically treated geometric forms in three ways: as related or contiguous elements, disparate or unrelated, and avenues of conveying much activity. Although his work was labelled as non objective, he, like other geometric abstractionists, was attempting to find logic through visual art, and he found it difficult to stay away totally from emotional expression.