Ferenc Olgyay studied in Budapest and Munich and was one of the founding masters of the Szolnok artists colony, in the company of his friends Dániel Mihalik and Lajos Szlányi; the three of them the being "triad of landscape painters from Szolnok". Took part in the formation of MIÉNK (Circle of Hungarian Impressionists and Naturalists) in 1907 and went to Kecskemét on the invitation of Béla Grünwald Iványi in 1911, where apart from painting he also supervised students on the summer courses. He turned against Art Nouveau in 1914, and eventually left the colony himself.