Affandi was born in Cirebon, and his last educational background was senior high school (AMS-B) in Jakarta. He married Maryati (16 years old) from Bogor and one year later they had their daughter, Kartika. Affandi started to paint since he was on elementary school and he did that activity seriously since 1934 by himself.

On 1935 Affandi established Kelompok Lima Bandung with Hendra Gunawan, Barli, Sudarso, and Wahdi. He has his first exhibition in Jakarta on 1943, at Gedung POETERA (Poesat Tenaga Rakyat) which was lead by the four groups (Ir. Soekarno, Drs. Moh. Hatta, Ki Hajar Dewantara, and Kyai haji Mansyur). Between 1945-1948 Affandi often made some political posters to envy people's struggle against the Dutch collonialism. He stayed in Yogyakarta and established Seniman Masyarakat with Hendra Gunawan.

Affandi is well known as a maestro in the world of art, especially in painting. His artworks have a particular and special characters and lines. Moreover his technique in painting, Affandi was used to paint directly on canvas using his fingers; he did not use any brush at all.

On May 23rd, 1990, the maestro passed away and was burried beside his showroom at Museum of Affandi Yogyakarta.