Andrade, born to a lower middle-class family in the city of São Paulo, Andrade first worked as a piano teacher and journalist. He was a leading figure of the modernist movement that débuted in 1922 revoluzionizing Brazilian literary, artistic and cultural production. In 1928 he published the statement of the modernist movement in his novel Macunaíma.

Andrade remained very protective of his private life. One of his friends later recalled that he and his friends had no idea that Andrade had led a double life or was a gay man. Yet in retrospect can be recognized the profoundly homosexual content of some of his writing. Althought it is now widely acknowledged that Andrade experienced strong sexual attraction towards other men, little has been published about this aspect of his life.