Son of Lajos Kolozsvári (Grün), a merchant, and Franciska Farkas (1872–1905). He lost his mother at a young age, and his father remarried. From 1918 to 1925, he attended the Hungarian College of Applied Arts; during this period, his work was influenced by the Renaissance painter Paolo Uccello while travelling in Italy. In 1926, he visited Switzerland and Spain, but eventually settled in Paris, joining the artists of the School of Paris.

In 1936, he became associated with the Ateliers 17 studio led by Stanley Hayter. In 1940, he and his wife sought to join the French Resistance. They attempted to enter the country with false papers but were arrested at the demarcation line and, as "foreign Jews," were sent to the internment camp in Gurs. They were released in 1943 and found refuge in Switzerland, where they had to spend eight months in a prisoner-of-war camp.

In the fall of 1945, he returned to France with his wife and a young dancer friend he had met in Switzerland. Three years later, he married his friend, with whom he had a son named François. In 1955, he was granted French citizenship.After an initial period of expressionist work, he spent around a decade in a surrealist phase. Later, his paintings depicted landscapes as combinations of repeating geometric forms. From 1950 to 1954, he painted abstract works, and his final artistic period, beginning in 1971, was characterized by lyrical compositions.