Painter Artist
Benoît Galifer
Montpellier, France
“Inflorescence 7”
The artist
Journey
René Benoît Galifer was born in 1944 in Arles, a nurturing city deeply steeped in culture and traditions. From high school onwards, he was very early in contact with painting thanks to Théo Rigaud, drawing teacher at the lycée and renowned painter... though belatedly recognized. Despite an early artistic sensitivity that earned him at age 16 a first prize in drawing at a Youth Festival organized by the city and which made him briefly consider an artistic career, his choices led him in 1963 to embark at the faculty of Montpellier on the long curriculum of medical studies that would make him a recognized academic, professor of pediatric surgery and head of department at the University Hospital. A brilliant and demanding path in contact with sick or malformed children that would end in 2012, rich with an unforgettable human experience accumulated at the cost... of half a century without painting!
About
The Artist
After 50 years of separation to live in Montpellier another adventure that would make him an academic pediatric surgeon, Benoît Galifer finds painting again as a former but always demanding mistress.
Based in Montpellier, he draws his inspiration from Mediterranean landscapes, natural elements — water, fire, earth, air — and human emotions. His canvases, vibrant with color, capture the essence of the south of France.
“He rediscovers painting like an old and ever-demanding mistress. But she, she has not aged... and trying to reconquer her remains an effort of every moment.”
Benoît Galifer
Portfolio
