Beaulieu studied at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, where he associated with artists such as Jean-Paul Lemieux, Stanley Cosgrove, and Francesco Iacurto.
In 1938, he set up a studio in Montparnasse, France, where he remained for the next 35 years, continuing with studies at l’École des beaux-arts (Paris). During this period he also exhibited his works at several Canadian galleries. He mingled with such famous artists such as Picasso, Rouault, Vlaminck , Marchand and Derain and was strongly influenced by their work. During the Nazi invasion, he was sent to a concentration camp in Fresnes (1940 to 1944).
After the war, he reopened his studio where he continued work until 1973 when he returned to Canada.
The National Museum of Modern Art in Paris acquired Beaulieu’s work in 1951, the first work by a Canadian contemporary artist to be purchased by the museum In 1951, his Nature morte à la bouteille jaune was the first Canadian painting acquired by the Musée national d’art moderne de Paris. Seven years later, in 1958 , Beaulieu, Alfred Pellan and Jean Paul Riopelle were featured in the exhibition Trois peintres canadiens at the Musée national d’art moderne de Paris with Alfred Pellan and Jean Paul Riopelle, Same year an exhibition with Jean-Philippe Dallaire at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
In Montreal Beaulieu was represented by the Dominion Gallery, from 1954 to 1965. Beaulieu returned to Quebec in 1973, settling in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts in the Laurentians, He held solo shows at Galerie l’Apogée, Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Quebec – 1968; and, in Montreal: Waldorf Galleries – 1954, Dominion Gallery – 1957,1959, and Galerie Libre – 1970. In 1971, a small gallery in Saint‑Sauveur‑des‑Monts, where an earlier show of his watercolours had met with great success, held a retrospective exhibition for Beaulieu, who had recently been admitted to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Beaulieu settled and carried out the remainder of his career in Saint‑Sauveur‑des‑Monts, north of Montreal. In 1983 he was given a retrospective in Ottawa at Galerie d’Art Vincent.
He received various awards and his work is in the National Gallery of Canada, Musée du Quebec, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée de Art Moderne Paris, Bezalel Museum Jerusalem, and numerous other collections in Canada, France, & internationally.