René Genis spent the first years of his life in Vietnam before his family returned to Bordeaux in 1931. He trained initially at the Ecole des Arts Appliqués in Paris but in 1940 he fled with his family to Bordeaux where he enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. On his return to Paris, he completed his studies at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs where he was tutored by Jules Cavailles whose influence can be seen in Genis's palette and composition. 

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This early grounding in applied and decorative arts is very much apparent in his work with blocks and sections of bold colour bringing to mind tapestry and ceramic design.

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He exhibited extensively during his lifetime with one-man shows in Paris, New York, Tokyo and Geneva. His work is in numerous private and public collections including the Musée D'Art Moderne, Paris and Musée de L'Abbaye, Saint Claude which held a retrospective in 2008.