Parviz Tanavoli was born in April 1316 in an average family in Tehran. He was interested in art and music since childhood. He played the violin and with the establishment of the Fine Arts Conservatory in Tehran, he entered the Tehran Fine Arts Conservatory in the 1930s in the field of sculpture.

After completing the sculpture course at the Academy of Fine Arts, he traveled to Italy twice to continue his studies. His first trip to Italy was in 1335 and he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara and after some time he returned to Iran to finance his studies.

When he was in Iran for a few months, he held exhibitions of his works and was able to get a scholarship from Mehrdad Pahlbad (the Minister of Culture at that time) to continue his studies in Italy and he went to Italy again and this time he went to Milan and studied at the Berra Academy for nearly 2 years. Brera) studied under Marino Marini (a famous Italian sculptor). In 1338, he received his diploma with first place and graduated from Berra Academy with top rank.