Paritosh Sen was born in 1918 in Dhaka now Bangladesh.

From 1936 - 1940 he studied at the Government College of Arts & Crafts, Chennai. From 1949 - 1954 he studied in Paris at Andre Lhote’s School, Academy Grand Chaumier, Ecole des Beaux Arts and at Ecole du Louvre (History of Painting).

In 1942 - 1943 he was the founder member of the Calcutta Group. In 1954 - 1955 he taught art at The Daly in Indore and at Neterhat Vidyalaya, Bihar. From 1956 - 1976 he taught design and layout as a staff member in the Regional Institute of Printing Technology, Jadavpur. In 1962 - 1963 he was invited by the French Government to design a Bengali Typeface based on the script of Rabindranath Tagore.

In 1979 he was invited by the Indo-Soviet Friendship Association to take part in an exhibition, Moscow. In 1981 - 1982 he was invited by the Indo-US sub-commission to lecture on Contemporary Indian Art in various centres in the USA. In 1983, 1984 and 1987 he was Artist in residence at the N.I.D. in Ahmedabad. He was elected Fellow of Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. In 1986 he was appointed Commissioner for India section of the Havana Biennale II, Cuba. He was invited to speak on Indian Contemporary Painting at Loomis Chaffee School at Windsor, Connecticut, USA. In 1970 - 1971 he received the D. Rockefeller III grant.

In 1985 he won the Asian Paints award. In 1989 he received Abanindra Puraskar for a painting by the Government of West Bengal. In 1991 he was conferred ‘Doctorate of Literature’ honoris causa by the University of Burdwan, West Bengal. In 1995 he was awarded a Prize for Achievement in Art from Lalit Kala Academy, West Bengal. In 1996 he receive the Kalidas Nag Award. In 1997 he received The English Speaking Union Outstanding Citizen Award. In 1998 he was honoured with Hirachand Dugar Award from Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta. In 1999 he was conferred Abanindra Gagan Puraskar by Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan.

Paritosh passed away at the age of 90 in his hometown of Kolkata.