Fleurs

Born in Paris in 1928, Buffet was a precocious artist and, aged 20, he had already won critical acclaim. His work is instantly recognisable, characterised by spiky forms, dark outlines and colours and a mood of despair. It expressed the spiritual alienation of the post-war generation and Buffet enjoyed enormous success in the 1950s.

In 1955 the magazine Connaissance des Arts named him the best of the post-war artists and he went on to hold numerous exhibitions worldwide. He was awarded Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur and in 1973 the Bernard Buffet Museum was opened in Japan. A year later he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Suffering from Parkinson’s disease, Buffet took his own life in 1999.