He was born in Genoa on 17 February 1950; in this city he graduated from the artistic high school and the detached section of the Academy of Fine Arts in Turin.

Later he attended the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Genoa and his painting courses at the Academy of Carrara.
Since 1973 he lives in the medieval village of Vezzano Ligure (SP).

He exhibits since 1968. His first paintings, executed between 1967 and 1969, are abstract researches on large colored backgrounds.
In 1969 there was a sort of turning point in a pop style: until the mid-1970s, Musante frequented Turin and in particular the Sperone gallery, he met some artists from Arte Povera, including Penone who at the time taught at the artistic high school of Genoa. He paints paintings dedicated to America with writings and inserts of objects and woods that are affected both by the influence of Pop and by Rauschemberg’s Combine Paintings.

From 1975 on he devoted himself to figurative painting, initially developing a series of female figures inspired by Klee and the Viennese Secession.

He also began working with graphics and watercolors where one can see the first narrative and fantastic cues that distinguish his work from 1955 until today, with a progressive attention to the dialogue between images, words, stories.

Francesco Musante has participated in major exhibitions such as:

• 1987 and 88 at the Salon de la jeune peinture at the Grand Palais de Champs Elysées in Paris,
• 1988 to Interarte in Valencia in Spain,
• 1989 at the Biaf in Barcelona, Spain,
• 1991 and 92 at Lineart International Art Fair in Gent, Belgium
• 1993 to The Artist and the book in twentieth-century Italy Museum of modern Art New York,
• 1994 to Italian artists’ books of the Novcento Peggy Guggheneim Museum in Venice Italy.

From then to the present day, important and documented exhibitions in the most important Italian galleries.