Rui Sanches was born in Lisbon in 1954. He studied at Ar.Co - Center for Art and Visual Communication and received his BA from Goldsmiths' College, London (1980), his MFA from Yale University, New Haven (1982), and his PhD from the University of Algarve (2017). In 1984, he exhibited his work for the first time at the Modern Art Gallery of SNBA and at Galeria Diferença in Lisbon. Since then, he has held over forty solo exhibitions, including a retrospective exhibition at CAM of F. C. Gulbenkian (2001), the exhibition "MUSEUM" at the National Museum of Ancient Art (2008), and "Inside the Drawing" at the Carmona e Costa Foundation (2014). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions in Portugal and abroad. His work is represented in major Portuguese public collections and various foreign collections, including: Gulbenkian Museum, Modern Collection; Serralves Museum; Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerp; Extremaduran and Ibero-American Museum of Contemporary Art, Badajoz; EDP Foundation; Luso-American Foundation for Development; Collection of Caixa Geral de Depósitos; Mudas - Museum of Contemporary Art of Madeira; Leal Rios Foundation; Berardo Collection; and António Cachola Collection. He has several works in public spaces, including the "Colunata" at the Assembly of the Republic and the Monument to Maria José Nogueira Pinto in Lisbon, as well as sculptures in Santo Tirso, Alcobendas (Spain), São Pedro do Sul, and the University of Algarve. In 2008, he was awarded the AICA-Ministry of Culture Prize.