[2] Courthion's father, Louis, worked as an editor on the newspaper Journal de Gèneve.
[1] After completing secondary school in Schwyz,[1] Pierre Courthion was educated at the University of Geneva and was awarded a scholarship to study painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
[2] During World War II, Courthion and his family fled from France back to Switzerland, where he participated in anti-Nazi resistance.
[1] From 1933 to 1939, Courthion was the director of the Swiss Foundation of the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris, before fleeing the Nazi invasion of France.
However, on reading the proofs and sharing them with friends, Matisse considered Courthion's writing convoluted and mesquin ("small-minded").