As an image 'La Sirene' (a Vodou Spirit and Diety) is rare for Philippe-Auguste. This early work dated 1963, was made just a few years after the artist joined the Centre d'Art. The fishtailed Mermaid, whose Kreyol name derives from the French (La Sirene) is accompanied with a serpent that may also symbolize the Iwa of the water. She has the ability to bring riches, romance and brings the promise of good things to come. In Haiti today, she plays an important role and her image is frequently painted as a wall mural in lottery parlors and on both the interior and exterior walls of the ounfo, or temples.

A self-educated lawyer, he did not begin to paint until he was fifty years old in 1958. In 1960 he joined the Centre d'Art and created in his art a personal universe where animals from Africa and human beings lived together in a fantastic countryside, representing a version of Haiti's ecological "paradise lost". The artist employs vivid colors and makes striking use of flat surface textures. His paintings are dominated by the female figure, often with winged female nudes. Philippe-Auguste is an "old master" of Haitian painting, whose art has been sought after by collectors for many decades.