Bernard BUFFET was young when he passed the entrance exam to the National School of beaux-arts in Paris. At the age of 20, he was awarded the Price of Art Critic, he was an expressionist translating the aftermath of the Second World War. His paintings are distinguished by the rigidity of lines, the austerity of the cold tones and the feeling of space. He left Paris for Provence, where he settled in Manosque with the young Pierre Bergé, his companion at the time. He also practiced engraving, illustrating "La Voix humaine", by Cocteau. Until 1999, the artist provided at least a hundred paintings per year. He paints famished clowns which translate his existential anguish.