Early Days and Career:

Pilon was born in Ajdovscina, then part of the Austro-Hungarian province of Gorizia and Gradisca (now in Slovenia). After graduating from the prestigious gymnasium of Gorizia, he was drafted by the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. He fought on the Eastern front and was captured by the Russian army. He later described his experience as a prisoner of war in the autobiography Na robu ("On the Edge"). He returned to Ajdovscina in 1919, where he took up painting.