Pierre Boncompain was born in 1938 in Provence. Encouraged by his parents in his pursuit of the arts, he graduated first in his class at the French National Academy of Decorative Arts before moving on to the National Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied in the Legueult atelier.

Boncompain’s work is always celebratory, presenting the pleasures of life with a Mediterranean vividness. His paintings, executed for the most part in Paris, are evocative of the environment and lifestyle of the South of France. He displays a wide combination of modern influences, combining a radiant and joyful Mattisean clarity of light with a simplicity and arrangement of form that brings to mind Milton Avery. The vibrant and earthy colors of these works; terracotta, ochre, rich purple, deep red and blue, elicit memories of Gauguin’s Tahitian paintings.