Born in Krakow, Poland, he moved to Paris in 1913, where his friends included Modigliani and Picasso. At the beginning of World War I he joined the French Foreign Legion and was seriously wounded in the Battle of the Somme in 1915, for which he was awarded French citizenship. Kisling was celebrated for his sensuous nudes and still lifes; his early paintings show the influence of Chagall, though he later developed a more realistic style. He lived in Switzerland during World War II and then settled in Sanary, in the south of France.