His work was indebted to French modernism and wished to synthesize Hellenic classical painting and modernist abstract concerns.

[1] Bernard Karfiol was born in Budapest, Hungary (where his parents, residents of Boston were then travelling),[2] but grew up in Brooklyn.

[3] In 1902, he left for Paris where he attended Jean-Paul Laurens classes at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts while discovering the artistic trends of the time.

[6] In 1906, he was back in New York City, working as a teacher in the studio provided by his friend, sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.

[2] Karfiol is a figurative painter influenced by Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and known for his tenderness towards his subjects, sensual forms and a soft palette of roses, oranges and dusty blues.