Fernando de Szyszlo was born on July 5, 1925, in Barranco, Lima. He initially studied architecture at the National University of Engineering in March 1944 but later pursued his true passion at the Academy of Plastic Arts of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, mentored by Austrian artist Adolfo Winternitz.

His first exhibition was held at the Peruvian-North American Cultural Institute. He co-founded the cultural magazine 'Las Moradas' with poet Emilio Adolfo Westphalen. After four years of study in Paris, he embraced abstractionism and met prominent figures like Octavio Paz and André Breton, frequenting the famous Café de Flore.

De Szyszlo worked as Deputy Head of the Visual Arts section of the Pan American Union and later at Cornell University. He also lectured at Yale University in 1965. By 1974, he had produced over 1500 works. In the 1980s, he was decorated with the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Republic and the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins by the Chilean government.

In 2011, he received Peru's highest honor, the Order of the Sun in the Grand Cross degree. A major retrospective of his work was inaugurated in July 2011 at the Lima Art Museum. He was also part of the 'Movimiento Libertad' founded with his friend, writer Mario Vargas Llosa. Fernando de Szyszlo passed away on October 9, 2017.