Yigal Zalmona was born in Tel Aviv. He grew up in the city's Neve Shaanan neighborhood. His father was a dentist. At the age of 20, Zalmona enrolled in art studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, completing a bachelor's degree and a master's degree. He wrote his master's thesis on Jean Dubuffet, a French painter and sculptor who pioneered the theory of "low art" and what is now called outsider art. Zalmona was offered a job as a teaching assistant at the Sorbonne, but chose to return to Israel.[2]
Zalmona wrote his doctorate on the Eastern influences on Israeli art in the early 20th century.[3]
In 1996, he was promoted from Curator of Israeli Art at the Israel Museum to Senior Curator and deputy director of the museum, until his retirement from the museum in 2012.[4]
