Born as Armand Fernandez at Nice, the son of an antique dealer. His first lessons in painting were given him by his father. He took his Baccalauréat in philosophy and mathematics in 1946 and began to study painting at the École Nationale d'Art Décoratif, in Nice. In 1947 he met Yves Klein and Claude Pascal in Paris and accompanied them on a hitch-hiking tour of Europe. Completing his studies in Nice in 1949, he enrolled as a student at the École du Louvre, where he concentrated on the study of archaeology and oriental art. His pictures at this time were influenced by Surrealism. In 1951 he became a teacher at the Bushido Kaj Judo School. He completed his military service as a medical orderly in the Indo-Chinese War. He did abstract paintings in 1953. He took part in actions whit Yves Klein, with whom he had been discussing subjects such as Zen Buddhism and astrology since 1947. He married Eliane Radigue. He was impressed by a Kurt Schwitters exhibition in Paris in 1954 which inspired him to begin his work with stamp imprints, the Cachets. He earned his living during this period through occasional jobs, selling furniture and harpoon fishing. He had his first one-man exhibitions in London and Paris in 1956. In 1957 he travelled in Persia, Turkey and Afghanistan. In 1958 he dropped the "d" in his name, inspired by a printer's error. He started his monotypes using objects, his Allures. In 1959 he did his first Accumulations and Poubelles. The Accumulations were assemblages of everyday objects and similar consumer articles displayed in boxes. The Poubelles were similar, but used collections of rubbish. In 1960 he became a founding member of the Nouveaux Réalistes. Through this group he made contact with members of the Zero group. He showed in New York and Milan in 1961 and made his sliced and smashed objects (Couples, Colères). In 1962 he showed in various European cities and also in Los Angeles, where hw was assisted by Edward Kienholz. He started his so-called Combustions, or burned objects, in 1963. He also took up part-time residence in New York. In 1964 he had his first museum retrospectives at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Polyester now became his most important material. In 1965 and 1966 he was given large retrospective exhibition in Krefeld, Lausanne, Paris, Venice and Brussels. In 1967 he initiated a collaboration between art and industry with the company Renault and represented France at "Expo '67" , Montreal. He showed at the Venice Biennale and at documenta "4" in Kassel in 1968, and was given a teaching post at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1970 he began his Accumulations in concrete and exhibited at the World's Fair in Osaka. In 1971 he began a series with organic garbage embedded in plastic. In 1972 he gained American citizenship in addiction to his French nationality. In 1974 he toured with a retrospective through five North American cities, and returned to Paris. Since 1975 he has lived between Vence (south France) and New York, where he died in October 2005.