Paul Daxhelet (1905-1993) was a Belgian painter and engraver. He began his formal studies at the Art Academy of Liège before completing his training in engraving at the Académie Julian in Paris. In addition to working in diverse mediums, Daxhelet was attracted to a wide variety of subject matter for inspiration. As a former boxer, the sporting world, in particular the art of pugilism captured his attention and became a favored subject of many of his early paintings.

After the First World War, Daxhelet worked mainly in the south of France. In 1951, Daxhelet visited the Congo which he found to be of immense interest and he continued to visit Africa regularly to paint. He also travelled extensively throughout Senegal, East Africa, Mauritania, Morocco, India, Ceylon, the Far East, South America, and Polynesia. His work was primarily inspired by the landscape, fauna, flora, and the daily life of the indigenous population of the lands he visited. Daxhelet was a professor at the Art Academy of Liège from 1957-1970. Starting out in an impressionist style, Daxhelet's use of broad brush strokes and a bright color palette contributed to the growing abstraction of his work over the course of his life. In some later instances, his paintings took on a surrealist quality that was highly regarded by critics. Daxhelet visited Ceylon during the 1960s.