Gladys Meneses was born in Venezuela in 1938. Meneses studied biology and chemistry at the American College of San Bernardino. From 1958 to 1962 she studied art at the School of Cristóbal Rojas. She then went to Italy to attend the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. She worked as professor of engraving and art history at the School of Arts Armando Reveron, Barcelona, between 1964 and 1969. Meneses took part in the XX Biennial of São Paulo in 1989. She was married to the sculptor Pedro Barreto.