Zuniga, born in Costa Rica in 1912, was exposed to art at an early age as his father was a sculptor of religious statues. From 1928 to 1934 he was his father’s assistant, and also received lessons in drawing and painting. Zuniga’s early learning was influenced heavily by the Renaissance style. Zúñiga wasn’t satisfied with making religious art and spent much of his time intensively studying natural subjects. He studied drawing, stone sculpture, and engraving at the School of Fine Arts in San Jose. Later, in 1936, he studied stone carving at La Esmeralda in Mexico City. He was appointed to the faculty of La Esmeralda where he remained until his retirement in 1970. Zuniga's art reflects a love and respect for Central American people and traditions, and is universal in its concern with articulating the sensitivity and sensuality of the human figure.

Zuniga developed rapidly into one of Costa Rica’s main artists. He belonged to a generation of creators who published an album of xylographs in 1934. Some of the artists were Zuniga, de la Cruz, Salazar, Herrera, and Amighetti. Zuniga learned the xylograph technique on his own, with books as his only reference. His experience in his father’s workshop helped him master this art quickly. After publishing this important work, some events in Zuniga’s life propelled him out of the country. In 1935 he won the first Central American price for a sculpture that depicted an Indian warrior’s head, called Agonia de la Raza, and was asked to collaborate with Oliverio Martinez on an important monument depicting the Mexican revolution. This was a major step towards international fame.

His active participation in the arts in Mexico won Zuniga recognition in the United States. In the 1940’s, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York bought some of his drawings, and other museums soon followed, buying his xylographs and sculptures. During this decade, Zuniga also exhibited his work in several other cities in the United States. After Zuniga’s success in Mexico and in the United States, his works were exhibited in many other countries. He was the recipient of numerous international prizes and awards. His work may be found in the permanent collections of twenty-nine museums throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden at the University of California Los Angeles, the Mexican Museum of San Francisco, etc.

During the last phase of his career, Zuniga continued creating and participating in exhibitions and large commissions, mostly in Mexico where he lived until his death in August of 1998. Francisco “Paco” Zuniga is considered one of the most important and prolific artists in Costa Rican and Latin American art. Though he chose to spend the second half of his life in Mexico, Zuniga’s presence lives on in Costa Rica through numerous permanent installations in public buildings and gardens.