François Arnal is born in La Valette (Var), from a family of wine growers.
High school in Toulon.College at the Aix en Provence University : Degree in law and letters.

In 1943, he enters a "maquis of Auvergne" as resistant, there he becomes acquainted with Conrad Kickert, Dutch artist refugee from Paris, friend of Le Fauconnier. It’s he who teaches him the first rudiments of his job and encourages him to paint.

In 1948 Arnal arrives in Paris where he lives and works since.
However it’s interesting to note the prolonged stays of the artist in Mexico, Polynesia, Central America and in U.S.A..

He joins the movement of Lyrical Abstraction (Charles Estienne) and of Informal Art (Michel Tapié). He starts sculpting in 1960. Lives in the U.S. six months a year where he exhibits and works.

In 1964, François Arnal settles in Paris, he opens Studio A, and starts writing novels and plays.

Since 1967, he lived in Arcueil in a ancien factory, and on the french Riviera.


He died on october 28, 2012.