Paolozzi studied at the Edinburgh College of Art in 1943, then moved to London. He was briefly at the St Martin's School of Art in 1944, and then at the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London from 1944 to 1947. He lived in Paris from 1947–1949. There he met Alberto Giacometti, Jean Arp, Constantin Brâncuşi, Georges Braque and Fernand Léger. They were a big influence on his later work.