Eluard was born in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris. In 1911, at the age of 16, he contracted tuberculosis and was sent to Switzerland to recover. It was here that he met Helena Ivanovna Diakonova, later to become Gala Dali. The two married in 1917.
Eluard first began writing poetry around this time. In 1918, he was introduced to Andre Breton, "the father of Surrealism", and Louis Aragon, another Surrealist. In 1929, Gala left him to live with Salvador Dali. Though relations between the two had been strained since at least 1924, they nevertheless went on to have an affair after Gala was already married to Dali.
In 1934, Eluard married Maria Benz (known as "Nusch"), an artist and model for surrealist Man Ray and Pablo Picasso.
During the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, he was a member of the French Resistance. Although Eluard had exhibited Communist sympathies throughout his life, the war led him to become increasingly extreme in his views. He joined the French Communist Party, and praised the USSR and Stalin. This led to his break with the Surrealist group, which, although left-leaning in its views, criticized the oppressive practices of the Soviet Union.
Paul Eluard died of heart attack in 1942.