The career of William Bouguereau, unlike that of his contemporaries, the Impressionists, was one of ever-increasing success without significant setback. Bouguereau was given a classical education by his uncle Eugène. Uncle Eugène also arranged for him to take drawing lessons and such was his ability that after only two years of study, he won first prize in the figure-painting class at the Bordeaux Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

Some of Bouguereau's drawings were rendered with the aid of an optical device known as the chambre claire. This instrument, by means of prisms, allowed the tracing of a subject's outlines, as observed by the artist, directly onto a drawing board. Used as an artist might use a photograph today, the chambre claire permitted the artist to readily and quickly reproduce certain details of nature which could be used later in the studio as details in a painting. Bouguereau would draw quickly, and keep the drawings by his side while working on the figures so he would have a well-balanced composition sketch.

Bouguereau also made drapery studies by posing a mannequin in place of the model and experimenting with the folds of cloth until a disposition was found that enhanced the underlying forms. Sometimes, especially for small or single-figure paintings, Bouguereau drew the model already draped. Most of his figure drawings were executed in pencil or charcoal and often heightened with white. The support for them was heavyweight toned paper of medium grain. This allowed Bouguereau to dispense with the problem of rendering troublesome halftones which were more easily and accurately realized in the painted studies.

Bouguereau was a respected teacher. In 1881 he was elected president of the painting section of the Paris Salon. In 1883 he became president of the benevolent Society of Painters, Architects, Sculptors, Engravers, and Designers, which promoted and attended to the welfare of new and struggling artists. He also taught drawing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the independent Académie Julian.

Throughout his career Bouguereau gained much official and public recognition, completing nearly 700 canvases during his long career. He was verbally attacked by Edgar Degas and the Impressionists who considered him to be too backward, artificial, and holding back the progression of French art. Bouguereau was an admirer of traditional art and had no time for anything resembling innovation or the avant-garde. His sense of idealism was his guiding principle, regarding the ugly as worthless for representation. His views angered many including J.K. Huysmans who called Bouguereau "a master in the hierarchy of mediocrity".

By the time of his death he was one of the most respected and loved of French artists. He was a favorite of collectors who found in his scenes of bathers, nymphs and other idylls, the perfect escapism from the pressures of everyday life.