Jules PERAHIM (1914-2008).
Born in Bucharest under the name Blumenfeld, Perahim is one of the most important French-Romanian Surrealist painters, a defining figure of the avant-garde. A precocious drawer, he is given private lessons of academic painting by professors of the Fine Arts School of Bucharest.
Amateur poet and graphic designer for a number of artistic revues, he exhibits at the young age of 18. With the rise of extremism, Perahim becomes politically engaged and takes a left wing stance.
Perahim leaves for Prague in 1938, where he meets a number of Dada and Surrealist artists. But the war advances and Perahim is unable to escape from the Romanian dictatorship, the German army and the Soviet troops. After years on the run and in work camps, Perahim is back in Bucharest where he focuses on illustrations, engravings and theatre decors.
In 1963, a vision of the infinity symbol during a sunset on the Black Sea will radically change his art and he will start painting again. He exhibits for the first time in Paris in 1968. His success will lead to constant exhibitions of his paintings and lithographs, in both art galleries and fairs, in France and abroad.