Born in Avignon, France in 1951, Christian Gaillard earned diplomas in art from the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs and Chambre de Commerce de la Ville de Paris. In 1973, Gaillard began his career as an illustrator, working for some of France’s most prestigious advertising agencies. He also worked for several magazines. He drew the covers for such important publications as Telerama, Le Point, L’Express, and Le Monde de la Musique. His early work as an illustrator is clearly influenced by Norman Rockwell, whose technique has remained palpable in his work throughout his career as an artist. His mentors in painting are the great Spanish painters Zurbaran and Velazquez.Christian Gaillard has won many prestigious awards for his work, the most notable being First Prize, Real Maestranza de Caballer’a de Sevilla, Grand Prix de Peinture which was presented to him by the grandfather of the King of Spain, Don Juan de Bourbon. His work is in collections in France, Spain and the USA and his exhibitions have been as widespread as Hong Kong, Singapore, USA, Mexico, Madagascar and Europe.
Gaillard amazed his collectors and admirers with his extraordinary technique. He resided in France and continued to impress the art world with his incredible work until the day of his death, on the 9th of August in 2018.
