Son of a prosperous jeweler, Léon (Baron) Frédéric was born in 1856. Leon Frederic was an apprentice to the painter-decorator Charle-Albert in 1871 and attended evening classes at the Académie royale des beaux-arts in Brussels.

In 1874, Leon, Frederic worked in the private studio of Jean-François Portaels. The following year, Frederic joined forces with other young painters to rent a studio where they could study live models.

From 1876 to 1878, Frederic prepared for the Prix de Rome, which he failed to win, but his father offered him a year's travel to Italy from 1878 to 1879. The presentation of his triptychs testifies to the influence of the Italian primitives in his painting.

Leon Frederic made his debut in the Essor art group, which brought together proponents of realism. In 1883, Frederic was hailed as a promising painter with his painting Les Marchands de craie, a triptych combining modernism with the genius of the primitive masters. In the 1890s Frederic became one of Belgium's most popular painters, cited alongside Constantin Meunier and Eugène Laermans.

Léon Frédéric (1856-1940) is one of the most prominent representatives of the Belgian Symbolist school.

The subjects of his paintings are sometimes those of the French realists. His artwork offers unusual lighting, flood and discordant colors, and meticulous design.

Leon Frederic's work "The workman Ages" is at the Orsay Museum.