An image of a horned devil with pointy claws and bat-like wings emerges
from a Voodoo drum. He has with arms stretched out like a Christ figure.
The drum grows out of a yellow plant-like tree with an opening at its
base from which the devil's pointed tail emanates and wraps itself
around a branch.
The bottom half of the picture features green leaves with blossoming red flowers.
they
point up. The top half features four devil-like characters that appear
to grow from the trees branches like hanging fruit. The one on the
immediate right of the devil looks like a hybrid bird whose mouth is
open, displaying a red-pointed devil tale for a tongue. "His surrealist
paintings mostly depict voodoo scenes or deities lwas. ( Haïti is, the
saying goes, "80 percent Catholic and 100 percent Vodou." This painting
is steeped in a mix of Catholicism and Haitian Voodoo and painted with a
overtone of Surrealism. It's as mysterious as it's intriguing. It's as
haunting as it's beautifully designed. Signed lower right.
Provenance: Sotheby's

Rigaud Benoit (1911–1986) had become one of the three or four most highly prized Haitian artists well before his death.
Early life

A native of Port-au-Prince, Benoit had been a shoemaker, musician,
and taxi driver before making his living as a painter. He had also
supplemented his income by painting pottery pieces he rarely signed or
acknowledged.
Career

Benoit was an early member of the Haitian art movement known as Naive
Art, so-called because of its members' limited formal training. The
movement was first recognized and promoted by the Centre d'Art, founded
in 1944 by the American Quaker and World War II conscientious objector
Dewitt Peters.

According to a widely repeated story, Benoit was working as Peters's
chauffeur in 1944 when he saw some of the first works displayed at the
Centre d'Art. He immediately decided he could do as well as any of the
featured artists. Late in life Benoit denied that tale, insisting that
he had merely visited the Centre out of curiosity before submitting his
first works to Peters. He is featured, giving that account, in Krik?
Krak! (Tales of a Nightmare), a VHS feature by Jac Avila and Vanyoska
Gee (VHS, 78 minutes. Chicago: Facets Video, 1997).

However he got his start, his paintings rapidly became among the most
highly sought of any Haitian artist. Then, in the early 1950s Benoit
was one of a handful of artists asked to decorate the interior of the
Cathedral of Sainte Trinité; his great mural, Nativity, stood above the
high altar. (The Catholic archbishop had — to his subsequent regret —
denied permission for "mere Haitians" to decorate the Roman cathedral.
The Episcopal bishop eagerly consented to the project. On seeing the
result he exclaimed "Thank God!, they painted Haitians.") The cathedral
and its many masterpieces was all but totally destroyed in the January
2010 earthquake.

Some of Benoit's later work was surrealistic, though he continued to
produce scenes of Haitian life — narrative scenes — until his death.

Benoit married the daughter of his friend, the legendary Hector
Hyppolite, the first Haitian artist to win international recognition —
and still the most acclaimed — in international art circles. They had
four children. Three of them — Yves Lafontant and Jacques Dorce, both
adopted, and Rigaud Benoit, fils — are also accomplished artists.
(Benoit fils lives in New York, his sister in Montreal.)

Benoit's work is characterized by precise draftsmanship, muted colors
(compared with most Haitian artists outside the Northern or Cap-Haïtien
school), and often — in his narrative paintings — a sense of humor. His
surrealist paintings mostly depict voodoo scenes or deities lwas.
(Haïti is, the saying goes, "80 percent Catholic and 100 percent Vodou."
In the past century evangelical Protestantism has reduced both
figures.)

Benoit worked slowly — usually fewer than half-a-dozen pieces a year.
Following a near-fatal automobile accident early in 1980, his
production declined further. He had, by that time, attained a measure of
financial security: he owned a comfortable cottage on the outskirts of
the Haitian capital.
Wikipedia