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Mimmo Paladino was born in 1948 in Italy. As a boy he studied at the Liceo Artistico di Benevento. In the late 1970s he was, along with Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enxo Cucchi and Nicola de Maria, original members of the "transavanguardia", a movement that was largely an Expressionist revival. He was soon having one-man shows in galleries and museums in Europe and New York City. Despite all the early attention, Paladino stayed in Italy and taught at the same art school that he had attended as a child. He exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1980, the Biennale of Sydney in 1982, and documenta 7 in Kassel in 1982.

In 1984, amid the olive groves and tobacco fields of his native Paduli, Paladino built a sprawling house and painted it a pale yellow. With his wife, Imma and their daughter Ginestre, he divides his time between this house and an apartment in Milan. There are many dimensions to Paladino, whose passions include poetry and music. His varied interests have lead him to various modes of expression, from painting to sculpture to theater design.