Bernard Buffet was born July 10, 1928 in Paris, France. In 1943, he studied drawing and painting before being admitted at the School of Beaux-Arts a year later. Buffet was a prolific painter who painted over 8000 works during a career which lasted over 50 years and dealt with various themes such as landscapes, portraits, circus and religious scenes, nudes, still lifes or city views. He also worked as an illustrator.

He exhibited his works in Paris for the first time in 1946. His meeting with Emmanuel David in 1948, was the real beginning of his International career, leading to his first solo exhibition in 1949. Success came during the mid fifties and Buffet was then hailed as the best post-war French painter. He has exhibited throughout the world : London, New-York, Chicago, Palm Beach, Montreal, Rome, Venice, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bale, Geneva, Berlin, Tokyo, Warsaw and Johannesburg.

For his admirers, Bernard Buffet is pure genius. He is recognised as a master in his art, and his paintings are collected in the most famous museums around the world. The Surugadaira Museum in Japan is especially dedicated to his works and displays around 1,000 of his works. In 1961 he painted a series of paintings depicting the life of Jesus Christ. In 1971 in response to a request by the secretary to Pope Paul VI, he offered these paintings to the Vatican Museum where they are on permanent exhibition.

On December 12, 1958, Bernard Buffet married Annabel Schwob. They had two daughters; Virginie in 1962, Danielle in 1963 and in 1971 a son, Nicolas, was born.

At age 71, French artist Bernard Buffet committed suicide on October 4, 1999 at his home in Tourtour, Southern France. Bernard Buffet, one of France's major painters of the second half of the 20th Century, was suffering from Parkinson disease and could no longer paint as he wished.

"Painting, we do not talk about, we do not analyze it, we feel it!"