Numa Donzé was a renowned Swiss painter.

Son of Charles Gustave Donzé (1838–1921) and Wilhelmine Klingele (1847–1917), Numa Donzé grew up with his sister Valerie and three step-siblings at Steinengraben in Basel. His drawing talent was recognized at a young age and encouraged by his parents. After completing his compulsory schooling, he attended the general trade school in Basel and received lessons from renowned artists such as Fritz Schider and Rudolf Löw.

Like many artists from Basel, Donzé studied in Munich with Heinrich Knirr and undertook a trip to Rome in 1905 accompanied by a German painter friend. In 1906, he created his masterpiece "The Liberation", an idiosyncratic interpretation of the Knight George legend, in which he put the liberated first, instead of the liberator.

Donzé's early work included landscapes of the Rhine and Provence, which earned him recognition at the age of twenty. During and after World War I, he belonged to the group of dark-toned painters that included Otto Roos, Paul Basilius Barth, Jean-Jacques Lüscher, Heinrich Müller, Otto Klein, and Karl Theophil Dick. This group, known as "Basel's classical generation of painters", spawned a revolutionary development in the Basel art scene. Their breakthrough came in 1907 with a joint exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel. They maintained a close exchange with other groups of artists such as “Das neue Leben” and “Red-Blue” and significantly shaped Basel painting until the 1920s.

In late 1907, Donzé traveled to Paris, where he drew inspiration from artists such as Gustave Courbet, Paul Cézanne, and Paul Gauguin. He lived in an old monastery in Montmartre and shared the studio with Jean-Jacques Lüscher. Important works were created from 1910 to 1915, including landscapes of Alsace and the Rhine, as well as large murals such as the allegory of life on the facade of the Basel National Newspaper.

From 1914 to 1918, Donzé served as a border soldier in active service. In the 1920s, he worked mainly as a commissioned artist, creating the mural "John the Baptist" on behalf of Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt. Together with Paul Basilius Barth and his son Heinrich Barth, he travelled to Algeria to Biskra in 1922.

In 1926, Donzé created the fresco "Wine Harvest" for the facade of the Rebleutenzunft on Freie Strasse in Basel. He also participated in international exhibitions, including 1932 at the 18th Biennale di Venezia.

Numa Donzé spent the last years of his life with his sister Valerie Brunner-Donzé and her husband in Riehen. During this time he frequently travelled to Italy, Paris, Provence, the Balearic Islands, Markgräflerland and Ticino in San Nazzaro, where he painted numerous landscapes, including in the Basel area.

He was buried next to his longtime girlfriend Helene Jetzler in the cemetery at Hörnli in Riehen. Jean-Jacques Lüscher held the obituary for Numa Donzé, his esteemed artist friend.