André Marfaing was born in Toulouse on 11 December 1925.

He studied law in his native city and obtained his degree. He moved to Paris in 1949 and devoted himself exclusively to painting. 

In the 1950s, he moved from figuration to abstraction, through decisive encounters with artists such as Pierre Soulages, Francisco Bores, Roger Bissière, Maurice Estève, Alfred Manessier and Gérard Schneider. 

His first abstract painting dates from 1953.

In 1959, Marfaing made his first engravings and used washes. That same year, he won the Lissone Prize for Young Painting. 

In 1962, he represented France at the Venice Biennale alongside Poliakoff, Messagier, Guitet and Manessier. 

He exhibited in Paris and abroad and took part in the group exhibition "Quinze peintres de ma génération" in 1966 at the L'Atelier gallery. 

From 1971, he adopted the acrylic technique (paintings on paper, vinyl binder). His painting evolves: conflicts are as if calmed, the canvas is purified, in a kind of asceticism between white and black. The painting is of a serious and meditative spirituality.

He died in Paris on 30 March 1987.