The descendant of a Walloon family originating in Tournai and based in Ypres, he completed high school at the Royal Athénée in Brussels.

While following the courses of Félix Laureys (1820–1897) at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1873 to 1879, he completed four years of professional practice with the architect Henri Beyaert, one of the leading eclectic designers in Belgium, of whom he wrote a biographical sketch in 1908.

[2] In 1879, after receiving a scholarship from the Belgian government to the laureates to encourage the decorative arts, Brunfaut chose to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris to acquire a knowledge of the conceptions of the past.

[2] Brunfaut enriched his knowledge during trips to Florence, Rome, and Venice, along with the Sicilian cities of Agrigento, Selinunte, Palermo, and Monreale from 1881 to 1882.

[4][5] Brunfaut closed his office about 1920 in order to travel with his wife, Victorine Castaigne (1867–1930), along with his three daughters, and to devote himself to his writings and at the meetings of the commissions of which he was a member.