Yvonne Canu was born in Morocco in 1921. She studied at the École des Arts Decoratifs inParis, and after the Second World War met Foujita and Élisée Maclet, who both encouragedher in her work. However, the greatest influence on her work were those of the Pointillistes, and in particular Georges Seurat's masterpiece L'île de la Grande Jatte.
Yvonne Canu's oil paintings follow this divisioniste technique of colour analysis employed by late 19th century artists, and like them often depicts seascapes, harbours and river scenes. She exhibited extensively after the Second World War until her death in 2008.