Xavier Gonzalez was born in Almeria, Spain, and lived in Argentina and Mexico before immigrating to the United States in 1925. He became a United States citizen in 1931, and married artist Ethel Edwards in 1935. Gonzalez traveled extensively, including in France (where he met and discussed art with Picasso), Italy, Spain, Egypt, Japan, Hong Kong, and Greece. Gonzalez studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Carlos Academy in Mexico City, the San Antonio Art School, and in Paris and the Far East. His works have been displayed throughout the United States including at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as in Paris, Venice, Brussels and Tokyo. He taught art at the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Art School and was the director of the art school at Sul Ros State Teachers College.