Born in Paris, she studied at the Conservatoire de Paris there with Joseph Morpain and Lazare Lévy, taking a "Premier Prix" in 1927. She went on to study with Rudolf Serkin and Robert Casadesus. As a performer she toured all over the world, winning much praise for her performances of 20th-century music. The composer Francis Poulenc, himself an accomplished pianist, praised her as "the adorable Monique Haas who plays the piano ravishingly", and Henri Dutilleux described her as "a celebrated interpreter of the music of Ravel"