He was born on 10 July 1935 in Vimercate, Milan. Performs technical and mechanical design studies.Self-taught painter, he began to exhibit very young. In 1958 the Bonalumi, Castellani and Manzoni group was born with an exhibition at the Galleria Pater in Milan, which will be followed by other exhibitions in Rome, Milan and Lausanne. In 1961 at the Kasper Gallery in Lausanne he is among the founders of the New European School group. Arturo Schwarz acquires his works and in 1965 presents a personal exhibition of Bonalumi in his gallery in Milan, with a catalog presentation by Gillo Dorfles.In 1966 he began a long period of collaboration with the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan, which will exclusively represent him, publishing in 1973, for the Edizioni del Naviglio, an extensive monograph edited by Gillo Dorfles.