William Perehudoff was born in Langham, Saskatchewan, in 1919. He studied in New York with the french artist Amédée Ozenfant, as well as attending a University of Saskatchewan artist workshop at Emma Lake. In 1952, he married another artist by the name of Dorothy Knowles.

Perehudoff was quickly established as an important color field painter, and has received numerous awards and honors such as the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 1994, and an induction to the Order of Canada in 1999.