Nadir Afonso was born in Chaves in 1920.
He graduated in Architecture at the School of Fine Arts of Oporto.
In 1946, he studied painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and gets through Portinari a scholarship from the French government and up to 1948 and 1951 employee of the architect Le Corbusier and served some time in the studio Fernand Léger.
From 1952 to 1954, working in Brazil with the architect Oscar Niemeyer.
That year, he returned to Paris, takes contact with the artists in demand driven kinetic art, painting studies on developing what he calls "Espacillimité ".
At the forefront of world art exhibits in 1958 at the Salon des Nouvelles Réalités "Espacillimité " animated motion.
In 1965, Nadir Afonso abandons the architecture, conscious of his social maladjustment, takes refuge in a little bit high isolation and stresses the course of his life exclusively devoted to the creation of his work.