Bernard Boutet de Monvel’s father was a painter of portraits, genre and historical subjects, especially known as a successful illustrator of children’s books. De Monvel followed in his father’s path. He studied under Luc-Olivier Merson, appointed Professor of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1891, and under the sculptor Jean Dampt. He rapidly developed success as an etcher, and illustrator for numerous journals and magazines. As a painter, he exhibited from 1903 at the Societe Nationalé des Beaux and from 1905, at the Salon d’Automne. It was in these early formative years that Boutet de Monvel adopted an unmistakably distinctive style that was to become closely associated with the Art Deco movement.
During the First World War, de Monvel was wounded at the Marne and on his recovery was posted to Salonika. He was posted to Fez, Morocco, in 1917 and began to paint again. Following the war, de Monvel worked for magazines and journals again and exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1919, he joined the newly formed Compagnie des Arts Français. The 1920s saw him achieve real success in the USA; a retrospective was held in New York in 1926. He received portrait commissions from the American elite. In the 1930s he had a home in Palm Beach. During the Second World War de Monvel remained in France. Post-war, he resumed his annual visits to the USA and, in 1949, died in a plane crash in the Azores. A retrospective was held at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1951 and in 1975 an exhibition of his work was held at the Luxembourg in Paris.