Paul Peel's work was very popular in both his lifetime and today. It is executed mainly in oil and employs genre, landscape, interiors, marine and portrait subjects. His conservative style reflects what was being taught in the French government academies at the time, but at the time of his death, Peel appeared to be changing his style toward impressionism.

Paul's father, John R. Peel was a marble cutter interested in the arts who came from England with his wife to London, Ontario, in 1856 and eventually opened a successful monument business in that city. At an early age, Paul, the youngest, showed a remarkable talent. His father, who also taught art at the Old Mechanics Institute and held classes at the back of his shop, encouraged h...