Saâd Ben Cheffaj was born in 1939 in Tétouan.
Saâd Ben Cheffaj was one of the first Moroccan artists to receive academic training in painting. After studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Seville in 1957, he took courses in art history at the École du Louvre in Paris. In 1962, he returned to Spain to obtain a teaching diploma at the Santa Isabel de Hungria School of Fine Arts in Seville. In 1965, Saâd Ben Cheffaj returned to Morocco to teach art history, drawing and painting at the Institut National des Beaux-Arts in Tétouan.
His first exhibition dates back to 1956, and since then he has never stopped painting, never losing the creative force that characterizes his paintings and drawings. He went through several periods (figuration, expressionism, neo-realism, abstraction), before arriving at the earthy, darkly radiant painting that characterizes his latest work. A painter with half a century's experience of painting, he can almost paint with his eyes closed. In any case, he goes beyond mere retinal perception.
His works are included in the permanent collections of the Fondation Cartier (France), the Fondation Kamel Lazaar (Switzerland) and the Barjeel Collection (United Arab Emirates), among others.
Saâd Ben Cheffaj lives and works in Tétouan.