A French artist, who was brought up in Belgium and began to study art at the age of 11 in Brussels and later in Paris.

His early works display an interest in Cubism, but he later became associated with Surrealism and was one of the most enthusiastic employers of automatic drawing, making a number of such works in pen and ink. He would often force himself to work under strict conditions, for example after long periods of time without food or sleep, or under the influence of drugs, which he did with Joan Miró and other neighbours of his Paris studio. By the end of the 1920s, however, he was finding automatic drawing rather restrictive and he left the Surrealist movement and turned instead to a more structured style, often producing works with a violent or erotic theme and making a number of paintings in reaction to the Spanish Civil War.

During WWII he moved to the USA and became an important influence on American Abstract Expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock. Following the war, he returned to France. But he felt that, with the end of the war, Surrealism had collapsed and he distanced himself from Breton and retired to Provence.