Antonio Dias was born on February 22, 1944 in Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil. He was married to Paola Chieregato. He died on August 1, 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He exhibited his work at international shows like the 1965 Biennale de Paris, where he won a prize for painting. He stayed in Europe afterwards, one of many Brazilian artists to go into exile as the military dictatorship cracked down on free expression.
He was a Brazilian artist who, in the mid-1960s, emerged as a leading proponent of Nova Figuração (New Figuration), a movement in painting that used bold, graphic imagery to contest Brazil's junta.