Bernard Buffet: Biography
“One must not confuse painting with politeness.”
Bernard Buffet
The Early Years of Bernard Buffet
Bernard Buffet was born on 10 July 1928 in Paris, in the Batignolles district. He was the son of Charles Buffet, a father he barely knew, and Blanche, a mother who devoted passionate love to her son. She died when he was still young, leaving Bernard orphaned. This trauma would follow him throughout his life, imprinting his work with deep sadness and despair.
For his admirers, Bernard Buffet embodied pure artistic genius. Admitted to the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts at the age of fifteen, he remained there only two years before choosing to work independently.
His artistic personality began to assert itself around 1946. From that time onward, his works were exhibited annually in Paris.
Bernard Buffet’s First Salons
In 1946, he exhibited a Self-Portrait at the Salon des Moins de Trente Ans. In 1947, he was admitted to the Salon des Indépendants, where he showed L’Homme Accoudé, followed by participation in the Salon d’Automne. In December of that year, his first solo exhibition was held at the Librairie des Impressions d’Art.
Recognition came swiftly: Raymond Cogniat acquired Still Life with Chicken for the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris. His early angular figures immediately aligned him with the expressionist movement associated with Francis Gruber and Georges Rouault. Like a celebrated actor or musician, Bernard Buffet signed autographs and appeared on the covers of major publications from Paris-Match to Newsweek and The Times. Introduced to collectors by painter Aujame, he received the Prix de la Critique in 1948 at just twenty years old, jointly with Bernard Lorjou.
The Emergence of the Bernard Buffet Style
In 1948, he met art dealer Emmanuel David, who played a decisive role in launching his international career, beginning with an exhibition at Galerie Drouant-David in Paris in 1949.
Emmanuel David signed Bernard Buffet to an exclusive contract, shared from 1957 with Maurice Garnier, who held total exclusivity from 1968 until the artist’s death.
The Leading French Post-War Artist
In 1955, Buffet was named the leading French post-war artist by the magazine Connaissance des Arts.
Paint was costly at the time, and Bernard Buffet used it sparingly: limited material and restrained colours, dominated by greys, blacks, browns and greens.
His works are powerful and moving. The determined line stretches like a supplication. Grey faces, furrowed brows, sparse hair and clenched hands give his figures a crucified presence.
His new artistic personality captivated audiences: the Bernard Buffet style became unmistakable, to the point that Monsignor Pasquale Macchi, secretary to Pope Paul VI, requested paintings for the Vatican. Bernard Buffet donated a series representing the Passion of Christ, completed in 1961.
Bernard Buffet and the Call of Colour
In 1958, Galerie Charpentier in Paris organised the first retrospective of his work. That same year, he met and married Annabel Schwob, who became his muse and lifelong companion. From then on, his pictorial style evolved, gaining strength and expanding in colour.
The exhibition “Une Symphonie de couleurs en plus” at the Musée du Touquet (16 November 2015 – 10 January 2016) enabled the public to rediscover this long-overlooked dimension of his work.
A Bernard Buffet Museum in Japan
Highly appreciated in Japan, he was honoured with a dedicated museum in 1973 in Surugadaira, Tokyo, initiated by the businessman Kichiro Okano. An exceptional collection is housed there.
Bernard Buffet, A Popular Artist
Bernard Buffet exemplified the divide between French intellectual elites and contemporary figurative art. Loved by the public yet often criticised by cultural elites, his work was deemed too prolific, too figurative and insufficiently cerebral.
His influences were nonetheless rich and varied: Grünewald, Rembrandt, Chardin, Van Gogh. Though figurative, his representations extend far beyond visible reality.
His election to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1974 and his appointments as Officer of the Légion d’Honneur (1993) and Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters attest to his official recognition, albeit belated. Critic Lydia Harambourg consistently defended his work.
Indifferent to criticism, Buffet declared: “The hatred that surrounds me is the most wonderful gift I have been given. I owe nothing to anyone. Few can say the same.”
Having devoted his life entirely to painting, he echoed the phrase reported by historian Stéphane Laurent: “When one has nothing left to say, one commits suicide.” Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1997 and no longer able to paint, Bernard Buffet ended his life on 4 October 1999 at his estate in Tourtour.
Bernard Buffet: Icon of French Figurative Art
With more than 8,000 paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints, alongside stage sets, costumes and postage stamp designs (1978 and 1991), Bernard Buffet was among the most prolific artists of modern French art, comparable in productivity to Renoir and Picasso.
Beyond mediums and techniques, he painted almost every subject, transforming the ordinary into something singular through his distinctive vision.
Bernard Buffet’s work has been presented at Galerie Estades since 2000.
> Consult the list of Bernard Buffet retrospectives
Selected Museums (non-exhaustive):
– Vatican Museums, Modern Art Gallery (The Passion of Christ, 1961)
– Bernard Buffet Museum, Surugadaira, Japan
– Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Selected Bibliography:
Bernard Buffet, Fonds de dotation Bernard Buffet, 2013
Annabel BUFFET and Jean-Claude LAMY, Bernard Buffet: Secrets d’atelier, Flammarion, 2004
Brigitte CAMUS, Buffet ou la psychanalyse en signature, 2007
Lydia HARAMBOURG, Bernard Buffet et la Bretagne, 2006
Yann LE PICHON, Bernard Buffet, 3 volumes, Maurice Garnier
Henry PERIER, Bernard Buffet et la Provence, 2007
John SILLEVIS, Bernard Buffet, 2013
Charles SORLIER, Bernard Buffet Lithographe, Vol. I
Charles SORLIER, Bernard Buffet Lithographe, Vol. II
Une Symphonie de couleurs en plus, exhibition catalogue, 2015