Born in São Roque, in the state of São Paulo, Darcy had a successful career as a painter, society portraitist, stage designer and book illustrator. In the late 1970s and 1980s he became a spokesman for the emerging Brazilian lesbian and gay movement, giving interviews abd appearing in newspapers and magazine articles.

In later life Penteado turned to literature, publishing three collections of stories, a novel and a book of childhood recollections. His most ambitious work was the full-lenght novel Nivaldo e Jerônimo (1981), an interesting attempt in fiction to bridge the gap between class and sexual politics.