Robert Combas was born in Lyon in 1957 but spent his childhood and youth in Sète. Since 1980, he has lived and worked in Paris.

In the early 1980s, Robert Combas pioneered a new form of figurative painting by creating the "Figuration Libre" movement – a name coined by Ben Vautier – which brought together artists such as Rémi Blanchard, François Boisrond, Robert Combas, and Hervé Di Rosa.

This art form, inspired by freedom, depicts society, violence, sexuality, suffering, and the small pleasures of everyday life, revealing both the pettiness and the generosity of human nature.

His inspiration draws from rock music, comic books, and graffiti culture, as well as the world of childhood, using popular imagery and everything that makes up a culture accessible to all.

Combas manipulates images from daily life, combining them with historical and mythological references. His style is bold, irreverent, humorous, and at times both violent and sensual.

A prominent figure in the contemporary art world, his name is closely associated with Figuration Libre in art history books and encyclopedias. In 2005, he was included in the Le Petit Larousse dictionary.