He studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he founded, together with Albrecht Rodenbach, Het Pennoen.
In 1880 he was awarded the Quinquennial Prize for Flemish Literature for his poems which were published in Gedichten.
In 1904 he was appointed Director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and a year later he was one of the co-founders of the illustrated magazine De Vlaamse Gids.
In 1919, he resigned his position as Director of the museum because he had been accused of Activism during World War I.
He became chief editor of the newspaper De Schelde, where among his employees were Paul Van Ostaijen and Alice Nahon.