Jean-Philippe Dallaire is best known for his festive paintings populated by strange and macabre people. In his work, the real and the imaginary intermingle in a world of form and colour.

Critics have described Dallaire as a man who lived in an air of mystery “ in a private world with his own landscape and climate, its architecture and its people.” Dallaire was a representational painter despite an interest for abstraction. He played a leading role as a precursor in the return of figure painting in Canada at the end of the 60’s.