[1] Borremans studied at the Sint-Lucas Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst (College of Arts and Sciences St. Lucas) in Ghent, receiving his M.F.A.

[citation needed] Until his break-through, he was a teacher at the Stedelijk Secundair Kunstinstituut Gent (Secondary Municipal Art Institute of Ghent).

Another painter Jan Van Imschoot had seen and bought many pieces of his work when it was exhibited in his local pub in Kalken.

This led to an introduction to Frank Demaegd, owner of Zeno X Gallery in Antwerp, where he had his first major exhibition.

[citation needed] In November 2022, Borremans' book As Sweet as It Gets (2014) was featured in the background of an advertising image from the fashion brand Balenciaga.

A major museum survey, Michaël Borremans: As sweet as it gets, which included one hundred works from the past two decades, was on view at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 2014.

The gallery, David Zwirner, described the works as featuring "toddlers engaged in playful but mysterious acts with sinister overtones and insinuations of violence.