Born in Montreal in 1910, PV Beaulieu was drawn to painting very early on. Not being satisfied by the École des Beaux-Arts in Montreal, he held various jobs to raise the money necessary for a stay in France. He moved to Paris in 1938, in a studio in Montparnasse, where he lived and painted for nearly 35 years.
 He meets Derain and Marchand in Paris and discovers the works of Vlaminck, Rouault and Picasso which mark his production. In 1940, he was arrested and interned in a concentration camp in Fresnes along with Dallaire and other Quebecers.
 From 1945, Beaulieu was introduced to printmaking and in 1952, he published a book containing 33 etchings of the poems in the collection.  O Faces, by Jean-Louis Vallas.
 After spending thirty years in France, he settled in a village in the Laurentians, Quebec, where he lived permanently from 1972 until his death in 1996.