François Boucheix was born on January 7, 1940 in Montcheneix, a small village at the foot of the Auvergne Mountains.

He took up sketching when he was very young. His father passed away when he was fifteen, so he had to learn a trade at odds with his artistic aspirations. Despite the high workload, he spent his evenings and part of his nights painting, as well as his days off.

François Boucheix conjures up a surreal vision of the world. He produces this effect thanks to his boundless creativity and inventiveness, and a feeling of awe that his fidelity to his roots in Auvergne keeps intact.

When he was seventeen, he worked as a supervisor in a religious community in Riom. He shared his room with the painter Jean de Rocca Serra, a former teacher at the Florence art school who had won the Prix de Rome (a scolarship). Jean de Rocca Serra taught him painting during the course of a year.

François Boucheix's did his first exhibition in February 1960, in Tunisia. His next exhibitions took him in the provinces of France, especially in Auvergne and in the south of the country.

He spent four years in Chamonix, where he read in a national newspaper that the Sèvres gallery in Paris was seeking painters. He replied to the announcement and sent in some photographs; he learned later on that he had been selected.

He first appeared in Paris in 1963 during a major exhibition at the Sèvres gallery, where he met Bernard BELLAÏCHE. From 1966 to 1972, he frequently exposed his works in this gallery, notably with LEBASQUE, Othon FRIEZ, DIGNIMONT, CRAU SALA, P. BOUDET, Madeleine LUKA, Marie LAURENCIN, Foujita and Salvador Dalí. The turning point of his life was when he met DALI with Bernard BELLAïCHE. "Sir, your art is excellent," Dali told him. "Gala likes your paintings."

Following the famous exhibition "From DALI to BOUCHEIX, with paintings of MEISONNIER", he decided that his surrealism would be one of dreams and happiness, and not a sad surrealism.

He met Georges Guiraudon, an art critic who wrote in many publications, who made him meet numerous art dealers during the next twenty-five years.

He also met Yasmine d'OUEZAN, who was then a patron of the fine arts in Paris, at the Sèvres gallery; their friendship would last for thirty years.

From 1970 to 1974, Suzanne BERTILLON would spend her summer holidays relaxing at François Boucheix's home in Royat. She was a friend of FOUGITA and gave a lot of help to ZAKDINE; she lived through the golden years of the artistic society at Montparnasse.

During a private exhibition, the works of François Boucheix prompted an art critic (working for the newspaper l'Aurore) to compare his works with Dali and Chagall; art connoisseurs spread the words of the critic.

FrançoisBoucheix has since then worked with the best art dealers and done exhibitions in art galleries worldwide.

1964-1969 : Sevres Gallery, Paris

1969-1974 : Yves Jaubert Gallery, Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris, and numerous exhibitions in France and abroad

1974 : Matignon Gallery, Avenue Matignon, Paris

1975 : Weill Gallery, Avenue Matignon, Paris

1976 : Laurens Gallery, Avenue Matignon, Paris

1977 : "Retrospective Salons" at the Grand Casino, Vichy

1978-1989 : Guigné Gallery, Faubourg Saintt-Honoré, Paris

1989 : Bernheim Gallery, Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris

1989-1999 : George V Hotel, Avenue George V, Paris, with thirty-five paintings displayed permanently, and many other galleries.

1990-1994 : Cours des Antiquaires, Faubourg Saintt-Honoré, Paris

He has also exposed in Basel, Geneva, Zurich, Beirut, London, Berlin, Tokyo, Rome, Caracas, Riyadh, Jeddah, Boston, Chicago, Beijing, Brussels, Hamburg, Luxembourg, Dubai, etc.

He started casting sculptures after Cesar, the sculptor, advised him to do so, following a private exhibition at l'Hermitage, in la Baule.

Some of his awards include the prix Lutetia at the Sèvres gallery, a Leonardo da Vinci gold medal and a Palette d'Or at the International Festival of Arts.

François Boucheix is aware that drawing on his talent implies a lengthy phase of inward concentration, mindful of his originative faculties, so that his great attention to details in his craft does not show through. Only then does the finished work strike as being novel, spontaneous and natural. F.Boucheix has always lived in seclusion, staying clear of the media.

The connoisseurs value the strength of his compositions, the vigour of his colours, the skill behind his brushwork.

He started drawing in 1957. 2007 marks his fifty years of painting.

His production, rich and varied, justifies the numerous exhibitions that take him all over the world throughout the years, as well as the multiple distinctions and marks of favour that reward and honour his internationally-recognised talent.

His works are part of many collections throughout the world, a guarantee of a poetic and enchanting surrealism.

The surrealist museum François Boucheix, a place for dreams and happiness, was opened in July 2006, with an exhibition of 230 paintings and 35 sculptures that retrace his life as an artist, from 1957 to 2007.