François Arnal was born in a family of varois winemakers. After secondary school in Toulon, he went to Aix-en-Provence faculty and studied law and letters. He started to paint in 1940.

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. In Paris he met painters as Pierre Dmitrienko, Serge Rezvani or Quentin and writers as Raymond Queneau, Hubert Juin, J.-C Lambert and Alain Jouffroy.t’s 

In the early 50s, François Arnal painted allusive forms. After a trip to Mexico and the United States, he moved to Tahiti where he created colorful works in which he uses a "kind of primitive language." At this time, he belongs to the group of Michel Tapie, Un Art Autre, and participated in exhibitions at the Galerie Maeght which brought together the abstract painters of the second generation. He participates in the movement of Lyrical Abstraction (Charles Estienne) and Informal Art (Michel Tapie).

The artist returned to Paris in the 60s He creates the Bombardements, traces of objects made with spray paint. 

 In 1960, he starts to take interest in sculpture. He then lived in the United States six months a year, where he exhibited and worked until 1964, when he settled in Paris. 

The artist returned to Paris in the year 60. He creates the series Bombardements, in which he traces the shapes of objects with spray paint. He seeks to create a an for the everyday life and to integrate the artist in the material world. He then founded the Atelier A, where he works from 1968 to 1975. He commands to some designer many kind of objects and works able to blend in everyday life. In 1960, he started sculpture. He then lived in the United States six months a peer, and exposes his works there until 1964, when he fixed in Paris.

In 1975, he came back to painting and sculpture. He designs the world of Meeps, imaginary characters of a vanished civilization. According to the artist, they are part of his work since the beginning. He also began writing novels and plays.

In 2009, at the end of his life, François Arnal returned to design and draw the Veli Bike table, which will be edited to 50 copies and signed "Francois Arnal, Atelier A". Francois Arnal is exposed in the most prestigious of places: the Guggenheim in New York, the Rio de Janeiro Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, etc.