Born in Paris in 1928, Bernard Buffet was admitted to the National School of Fine Arts at the age of fifteen and received the Prix de la Critique five years later.

Very quickly the young artist exhibited his works in salons, notably the Salon des Indépendants in 1947. That same year, Pierre Descargues offered him a first exhibition during which Raymond Cogniat bought a "Still life with chicken" for the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Noticed by Emmanuel David in 1947, Buffet signed an exclusive contract with the gallery owner. This meeting was to be decisive in the painter's career; every year in February, an exhibition of his works was presented at the Drouant-David Gallery, which later became the David Garnier Gallery and then, in 1968, the Maurice Garnier Gallery.

A prolific artist, Bernard Buffet is one of the main representatives of the expressionism of misery alongside Francis Gruber and Georges Rouault. His incisive canvases, intensely outlined, in shades of gray, black, brown and green, establish the singularity of the artist. Marked by the war, Buffet's austere and realistic work seems to express a palpable suffering. Adulated by the public during his lifetime, his darkness is popular; he is ranked first among the best post-war painters by the magazine "Connaissance des Arts" in 1955.

In 1958, the painter met Annabel Schwob, a writer and singer who became his wife and muse. In 1973, a large museum dedicated to Bernard Buffet opened its doors in Surugadaira, Japan. The artist was elected to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1974. In 1993, he was promoted to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor.

In 1997, the painter, suffering from Parkinson's disease, discovered the first symptoms which intensified until 1999, when Bernard Buffet, unable to paint, ended his life.