During his childhood and youth, Robert lived in New Caledonia, Senegal, and French Guiana.
Three years later, even though he had completed his military service, he joined his father on the front lines, as an artillery gunner, and came back with two merit citations.
After the war, he was appointed Secretary of his alma mater, and held that position until 1925, when he was named Assistant Curator at the Musée du Luxembourg.
In 1940, the Vichy government relieved him of his administrative duties, and he became a conservator at the Louvre, where he was placed in charge of reorganizing the provincial museums.
Shortly before his death, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, taking Seat #1 in the "Unattached" section.