Theophile Steinlan was born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1859. He attended the University of Lausanne. Afterwards he began working as a designer apprentice at a textile mill in the eastern part of France. While in his twenties, Steinlan and his wife at the advice of Francois Bocion moved to Montmarte Quarters of Paris, and artistic community. In the 1890’s numerous works of rural landscapes, flowers, and nudes done by Steinlen were shown at the Salon des Independants. Steinlan’s permanent home, Montmartre and its surrounding area was a favorite subject during Steinlen's life and he frequently painted scenes of some of the more bleak conditions of life. Steinlan’s talents were not limited to paintings and drawings, he also experimented with sculpting, most notably figures of cats for which he had natural affinity for. This is recognizeable in many of his paintings.