Eugène Louis Gillot visited Venice in 1897. From 1907 he regularly spent time in England, where he discovered the work of Turner, and in 1923 he travelled to New York. With Charles Fouqueray he founded the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts de la Mer. He made engravings and painted poster designs and a few historical scenes; but he concentrated mainly on views of Paris and London, the banks of the Seine and the Thames, and was especially keen to catch the play of sun on mist in Turner’s style. Later he changed subject matter and depicted circus and music-hall scenes.

He exhibited at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was awarded an honourable mention in 1900, and of which he became a member in 1901. He was appointed official painter to the French navy and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur.