Canadian artist Robert Leprohon was born in Montreal, in 1926. In March 1944, his love of art was awakened when he attended an exhibition titled “Five centuries of Dutch art” at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which displayed an extensive collection of paintings loaned to Canada during WWII. Soon after, as he started to practice drawing and acrylic painting, he realized that the course of studies he had set for himself at the École des hautes études commerciales of Montreal did not fulfill his aspirations and he vowed to dedicate his life to the visual arts. The vibrant and innovative Montreal art scene surrounding Le Refus Global and Les Automatistes movements was a stimulating incentive for artistic exchange, and within the group, he regularly associated with painters Marcel Barbeau and Pierre Gauvreau.  His participation in the 1947 Salon du printemps of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts was an early recognition of the artistic value of his work.

During these younger years, the summer weeks spent in the small village of Port‑au‑Persil in Charlevoix had a profound impact on Leprohon’s artistic development. An effervescent meeting point for established artists as well as art students, Port‑au‑Persil was an extraordinary setting for the practice of painting from nature. The emulating friendship of painters Goodridge Roberts, Paul Piché and the meeting of his future wife, expressionist painter Gisèle Leclerc, were key moments. He moved to Quebec in 1953, a city he adopted for the rest of his life.

Stemming from a generation of artists searching for integrity and freedom from the rigid norms regulating Quebec’s post‑war society, highly aware of the debates of his time surrounding artistic renewal, Robert Leprohon has had a long career spanning over six decades , during which he went from publicity illustrator in the 60’s, to Public Relations Director at Les Presses de l'Université Laval (1970-1990) and to years of studio work in his Quebec atelier till the last few months of his life. He died in Montreal in December 2018.

Robert Leprohon, man of silence and defender of visual expression that speaks for itself, stayed fiercely away from the art scene during his lifetime. The historical and artistic importance of his work were recognized at a major exhibition in Vienna in 2018, with curator Günther Oberhollenzer, from the Landesgalerie Niederösterreich. Since then, his paintings have featured prominently at various festivals in Austria and have been integrated into the school curriculum in Germany.