Born Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin in Paris, he worked at his uncle's lingerie shop while attending evening drawing lessons.

In 1886, an astute critic, Félix Fénéon, called him a "furious colourist";[3] By the 1890s, his palette had grown even bolder, less faithful to nature.

Vincent held Guillaumin's work in high regard, commenting on it in at least 36 letters written from 1888 to 1890.

Guillaumin was finally able to quit his government job and concentrate on painting full-time in 1891, when he won 100,000 francs in the state lottery.

Guillaumin is best remembered for his landscapes of Paris, the Creuse département, and the area around Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel near the Mediterranean coast in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France.