Bernard Buffet
A French painter whose stark, spiky figures and melancholic scenes made him a wealthy, controversial star of post-war art before falling from critical favor.
1928–1999 (age 71)·French painter·Birthday: July 10·The Silent Generation
Biography
Bernard Buffet rocketed to fame in his early twenties, becoming a symbol of post-war Paris and a commercially successful artist with a fiercely recognizable style. His paintings, characterized by elongated, angular forms, sharp black outlines, and a palette often dominated by grays, conveyed a sense of existential angst and austerity. Critics labeled his work 'miserabilist,' but the public and collectors were captivated. He lived a life of flamboyant luxury with his partner and muse, Annabel, but his relationship with the art establishment soured. As abstract expressionism and other movements took hold, Buffet's figurative work was dismissed as repetitive and commercial. His story is a dramatic arc of rapid ascent, immense wealth, and eventual rejection by the critical world that once championed him, ending in his suicide.
The Silent Generation
1928–1945
Born between the Depression and the end of WWII. Too young to fight, old enough to remember. They became the conformist middle managers of the 1950s — and the civil rights leaders who quietly dismantled Jim Crow.
Bernard was born in 1928, placing them squarely in The Silent Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Bernard Was Born
The biggest hits of 1928
#1 Movie
The Singing Fool
Best Picture
Wings
Bernard's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1928Born
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin; Mickey Mouse debuts
President: Calvin Coolidge"Ol' Man River" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: Wings
1933Started school
FDR's New Deal launches; Prohibition ends
Gas: $0.18/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stormy Weather" — Ethel WatersBest Picture: Cavalcade
1941Became a teenager
Pearl Harbor attack brings the US into WWII
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,060Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Chattanooga Choo Choo" — Glenn MillerBest Picture: How Green Was My Valley
1944Could drive
D-Day: Allied forces land at Normandy
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,400Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Swinging on a Star" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Going My Way
1946Could vote
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1949Turned 21
NATO founded; Mao proclaims the People's Republic of China
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Riders in the Sky" — Vaughn MonroeBest Picture: All the King's Men
1958Turned 30
NASA founded
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Volare" — Domenico ModugnoBest Picture: Gigi
1968Turned 40
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinated
Gas: $0.34/galHome: $14,950Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Hey Jude" — The BeatlesBest Picture: Oliver!
1978Turned 50
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1988Turned 60
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1998Turned 70
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
1999Died at 71
Columbine shooting; Y2K panic builds
Gas: $1.17/galHome: $113,900Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Believe" — CherBest Picture: American Beauty
Key Achievements
- Was the subject of a major retrospective at the Galerie Charpentier in Paris in 1958, at the age of just 30.
- Elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1974, a significant institutional honor.
- Founded the Musée Bernard Buffet in Japan in 1988, a rare instance of a museum dedicated to a living Western artist.
Did You Know?
He designed the French postage stamp for the Year of the Child in 1978.
His work was collected by celebrities like Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot.
He refused to sell paintings to the famous art dealer Lord Duveen, stating he did not like the English.
“Painting is a way of forgetting oneself. It is a cry in the night, a strangled laugh.”
