Born into a family of doctors. After the family moved to Ukraine, he lived in Rivne, Kyiv and Simferopol. He studied at the Crimean Art School named after M. Samokish (1974–1979), the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Leningrad (1977–1978), and later graduated from the Kharkiv Art and Industrial Institute (1984). He worked as a master printer, was engaged in teaching activities, in the early 1990s he taught at the Royal College of Art in the UK. Since the early 1990s he has lived and worked in Kharkiv.

He works mainly in the field of author's graphics, printed graphics, installation and book art. One of the first Ukrainian artists who systematically developed the art book genre, combining graphics, text and conceptual thinking. His work is distinguished by a complex metaphorical language, attention to memory, the history of the city, time, water, space and human civilization. Among the most famous series and projects are “City” (1992–1996), “Fountains of Exhaustion” (1995–1997), “Book of Days” (1998), “Anatomy of a Target” (1999), the installation “Pewter Veterans” (2004), “Alley of Lovers” (2008), “Ukrainian Alphabet” (2011). He is the author of numerous art books, including “Task No. 1”, “Book of Water”, “Our Landscape”, “Anatomy of a Target and All, All, All…”, “Book of Days”, “Utopia. Chronicles 1992–2005”, “Author’s Books and Diaries”.

Makov has been a participant in all-Ukrainian, international and personal exhibitions since the late 1980s. The artist's personal exhibitions were held in Munich, Kyiv, Moscow, Kharkiv, Lviv and other cities. In 1989, he received the Grand Prix of the All-Union Biennale of Easel Graphics. In 2022, he represented Ukraine at the 59th Venice Biennale with the project "Fountain of Exhaustion. Acqua Alta", which became one of the most notable Ukrainian artistic statements about the war and the cultural resilience of the country. In 2025, he was awarded the international Leonardo Sciascia amateur d'estampes prize for outstanding achievements in the art of graphics.

Pavlo Makov's works are kept in the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Sumy Art Museum, State Tretyakov Gallery, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Gallery of Art in Washington, Library of Congress, Center for Contemporary Art in Osaka, Cremona Art Museum, Zimmerli Museum and other museum and private collections around the world.

Pavlo Makov is one of the most authoritative Ukrainian artists of our time, whose work combines conceptual art, author's graphics and book culture. His works, built on multi-level visual metaphors and philosophical understanding of memory, space and history, have become an important component of the development of Ukrainian contemporary art and have gained wide international recognition.