Gustave Cahoreau was born as the eldest of seven children of a farm laborer, 1929 on August 16 in Neau in Mayenne, France. At the age of 10 months, he was affected by meningitis. He was for a short time at the local school, which he can not remember, except that he says of himself in drawing he was the "Champion". He was ten years old when the second World War broke out, what influenced him deeply. From thirteen he worked until his retirement, as a servant on farms in the region. In 1963, his father died, crushed by a hay wagon. At that time, Gustave Cahoreau started creating strange shapes from rocks and roots. "When his boss saw this, he beat me. I cried." In 1965 he finally got at a "good boss". The village teacher offered him a book on African art, upon which he began to carve wood, to use objects (boxes, wheel spokes etc.) to build totems, and started to draw.
In spring 198,6 Madeleine Lommel and Michel Nedjar, the founder of the collection Aracine, discovered his work. His works from this collection are presented in the Musee d'Art Moderne in Villeneuve d'Ascq.Since October 1998 Cahoreau lives in a retirement home in Mayenne. He no longer has the physical strength to carve, but draws still occasionally.