Born in Paris, France in 1871, Georges Rouault’s early apprenticeship under a stained glass maker had a strong influence on his mature painting style.  Rouault attended Ecole des Arts Decoratifs and studied with Gustave Moreau at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1902 Rouault helped found the Salon d’Automne, an independent exhibition space for those artists rejected by the Paris Salon and the site of one of his first major exhibitions. A year later he became the Director of the new Musee Gustave Moreau. By the 1930s and 40s, Rouault was exhibiting widely. In 1937 he had his first American one-man show at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in NYC and in 1938 the Museum of Modern Art exhibited his graphic prints. Rouault's works were also shown at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London and at the Venice Biennale in Italy.

Rouault’s works are held in collections around the world, including the Musée National d’Art Moderne and Centre Georges Pompidou in France, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, several museums in Japan, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.