Sunil Das was born in 1939 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He was a graduate from the Government College of Art and Craft. He was awarded the Shiromani Kala Puraskar while he was still studying in the college. He also studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

He took part in various exhibitions in India and abroad, including the São Paulo Biennial and Havana Biennial in the 1980s. One can find his paintings in the art collections of the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany; National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India; Glenbarra Art Museum in Himeji, Japan.

The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2014. Sunil Das passed away in 2015.