In 1959, after a first teaching experience at the Académie Montmartre in Paris - directed by Fernand Léger -, J.D. accepted a teaching post at the Akademie der bildenden Kiinste in Munich. According to former students, his teaching more akin to initiation than to lecturing, came within the province of maieutics.  " He was not a conventional teacher, but rather a guide, an adviser, a friend.  " (Comby).

" Most of his students enjoyed a good education, because they felt that to him, theory and practice were but one.  He looked extremely well after every student and if the discussions were in groups, he would talk in private with anyone who seemed not so much at ease.  "  [Gerhard Fröbel.  See Biblio].

   As a matter of fact, J.D. passed on the lesson of rigour and freedom given by Paul Sérusier - who twenty years before, had helped him to find his personal way - and enhanced by his own experience.  He tried to make his students discover their own means of expression, without influencing them, nor imposing any specific tenet.  Unlike the rest of the academy (where most students usually paint like their teacher) J.D's group of students followed different artistic trends.  As far as colour was concerned, J.D. recommended to study the " chromatic circle " treasured by the Nabi painter rather than the methods developed more recently by the Bauhaus theoreticians, such as Johannes Itten or Josef Albers.  In short, by his teaching, J.D. revealed a major element of the painter's relationship to his work:
 

" It would be ideal if I succeeded in helping my students not only to become " painting technicians ", but also people so highly conscious of the prodigality of Nature, so eager to observe it that its study is no longer frightening.  "  [J.D. to Georges Adam, 1962].