Painter, printmaker, sculptor, and ceramicist Francisco Espinoza Duenas was born in Lima, Peru, in 1926. He attended the National School of Fine Arts in Lima, where he graduated with honors in 1953, also receiving the Grand Gold Medal and Diploma of Honor in the Drawing and Painting Master's program. He worked as an artist in the Peruvian capital, building a reputation as one of the country's most important artists, and in 1955 he received a scholarship from the Institute of Hispanic Culture to study in Spain. There he studied fresco and lithography at the National School of Fine Arts of San Fernando, twice receiving the first prize in the latter.

Duenas moved to Paris in 1958 on invitation of the French government, to continue his printmaking studies at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris. He also began pursuing ceramics at the famous Manufacture National de Sevres porcelain manufacturers, alongside such artists as Jean Arp, Louise Bourgeois, and Pierre Alechinsky. His reputation as a ceramicist rose quickly and, while in Cuba in 1965, where he taught art until 1968, he received notification from the French government that he was to receive the Grand Prize for International Ceramics. Despite these successes, Duenas had become drawn to teaching while in Cuba. He traveled briefly to Peru to execute a mural in honor of Cesar Vallejo, and then to the U.S. to spearhead a project titled "Atlantic Mosaic" for the fifth centennial celebrations honoring the discovery of America. He then returned to Spain, settling in Burgos, and continued to pursue pedagogical work, both in formal settings and within his community. In 1989 he bought a farm in Andalusia and established a museum in neighboring Cazalla de la Sierra. A retrospective of his work took place in Huelva and Seville in 2011.

He continues to live in Constantina, Seville, Spain.