Claude Picher was born in Québec City on May 30, 1927 and died in Saint-Léandre, near Matane, in 1998.  He showed a precocious talent for painting and won many prizes from the age of 14.  He attended École des beaux-arts de Québec very briefly (1945-1946) because he could not deal with its pedagogical conformism.  Then, on two scholarships from both the Québec and French governments, he left for Paris to study at École du Louvre and at École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts.  Back in Québec, he pursued a double career as a painter and as Director of Exhibitions at Musée du Québec (now Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec), Representative of the National Gallery of Canada and Associate Director of Musée du Québec.  In 1973, he was elected as a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.  Claude Picher was also the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and scholarships.  In 1971, he settled in Saint-Léandre devoting himself to painting the Gaspé Peninsula, which according to him, was not sufficiently represented in art.