René Bértholo was born in Alhandra (Vila Franca de Xira), in 1935. Between 1947 and 1951, he attended the António Arroio School of Decorative Arts. In 1951, he enrolled at the School Superior of Fine Arts in Lisbon, where he studied until his graduation. to the year 1957. Between 1953 and 1955, he was one of the founders and directors of the magazine Ver, together with his colleagues from art school. 

Still as a student at the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes de Lisboa, he began to exhibit his work, and in 1953 he took part in the VII General Exhibition of Plastic Arts, at the invitation of the artist Jú lio Pomar, and in 1954 he entered the 1st Salon of Abstract Art. In 1956 he started a studio, in Rossio, with colleagues and artists José Escada, Gonalo Duarte and João Rodrigues Vieira. In Duarnate's life he spent time with several artists, such as Mário Cesariny, Luiz Pacheco, Herberto Hélder and Mário-Henrique Leiria. His first solo exhibition took place at Galeria Pórtico, in 1956. 

In October 1956 he married Lourdes Castro, and during that year's celebration he traveled to São Paulo. Munich, Germany, where he spent about a year, having held exhibitions with Lourdes Castro, Costa Pinheiro and Gonalo Duarte.

Later on, in the winter of 1958, he settled in Paris, becoming a fellow at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation between 1959 and 1960. It was still in Paris that, in 1963, he held his first exhibition. He is a solo artist at an international level, at Galeria Dragon, having participated, throughout the 1960s, in several collective exhibitions within the scope of the Nouvelle Figuration movement. p>

His work also included the creation of works in the public domain, such as a large mural painting in Halles (Paris), at the invitation of the Center for Contemporary Art. He also made several sculptures for urban spaces, using colored reinforced concrete and ceramics.

René Bértholo returned to Portugal in 1981, having settled in the Algarve region. Now In 2000, he exhibited several times in Lisbon, including at Galeria Mundial Confiança, in Chiado, and the exhibition Bird on Earth at Galeria Ratton. In 2001, he held the exhibition Confusions at Galeria Trem, in the city of Faro.

He passed away in Vila Nova de Cacela, on June 10, 2005.

(Vila Franca de Xira)