Hugues Claude Pissarro, is the grandson of Camille Pissarro and son of Paulémile Pissarro. Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine and immersed in an artistic environment, he spent his childhood with brushes in hand. Carrying on a family tradition established by Camille, Paulémile frequently took his son on painting excursions, accompanied by his numerous artist friends, and these proved formative to Hugues’s painterly development. 
Initially taught by his father, Hugues first exhibited his work at the age of fourteen. He subsequently studied art in Paris at Ecole du Musée du Louvre and Ecole Normale Supérieur, an elite institution dedicated to the pursuit of academic achievement and excellence. This educational background led him to follow a long career as an art professor and, in 1965, accept an invitation to teach art in Monaco.