Bernard Cathelin was born in Paris, France in 1919. In the year of 1945, Cathelin entered École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (French National School for further studies in the Decorative Arts), and also the studio of the French painting master Maurice Brianchon to study. The artist inherited the Fauvist feature of strong and bright colors, especially in the paintings in his early career. In 1947, Cathelin started to teach in École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs; in 1950, he won the Prix Blumenthal which was founded to aim the young artists in French. In 1958, Cathelin was selected by the David Findlay gallery in New York for an exhibition, the exhibition was then featured on Sunday's supplement's cover of New York Herald Tribune. Since then Cathelin’s work have been exhibited frequently in Japan, United States, France, and around the world. In 1997, a retrospective exhibition of the artist was held by the Valence Museum, France. 2000, Another Retrospective Exhibition was held at the Shanghai Art Museum, China. After the death of the artist in 2004, Cathelin’s works were still often exhibited around the world.