Léopold-Levy was the last child of a family of industrialists. Originally from Sélestat in Alsace, his father opted for France in 1870 to escape the German subjection. Amateur of art, he frequented the Hotel Drouot, collected the works of Courbet, Corot and gave his son the taste of painting.

Léopold-Lévy lost his father at the age of 11 and decided to become a painter. He failed the entrance examination at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, frequented the Louvre regularly, admired Cézanne and Renoir. He met the sculptor Charles Despiau and the painter Georges Linaret (who died suddenly in 1905). The group metto paint and discuss in the garden of Luxembourg. Léopold-Lévy created cartoons for several magazines, including Rire and ...