Her creations included the satirical comic series Les Frustrés, and the unimpressed teenager Agrippine.

Bretécher was born in Nantes[4] and got her first break as an illustrator when she was asked to provide the artwork for Le facteur Rhésus by René Goscinny for L'Os à moelle in 1963.

In 1972 she joined Gotlib and Mandryka in founding the Franco-Belgian comics magazine L'Écho des savanes.

Claire Bretécher was the widow of French constitutionalist Guy Carcassonne [fr] with whom she had a son.

She died in Paris on 10 February 2020, after suffering for some years from Alzheimer's disease.