Franz Hohenberger studied at the Vienna Academy under Christian Griepenkerl, August Eisenmenger, Sigmund L' Allemand and L. K. Müller. This was followed by a two-year stay in Paris, where he above all grappled with Impressionism. He traveled to East Asia in 1895.

In 1898, Hohenberger became a member of the Vienna Secession*, acting as its president in 1908. He repeatedly cooperated with the artists Josef Engelhart and Maximilian Lenz - and in 1894, he and Lenz worked on the facade of the Annahof in Vienna.

In 1897, he, Lenz and Engelhart cooperated on paintings for the Urania. In 1913, he was involved in Engelhard’s Raymond Cycle at the Kogel Chateau in Attergau.

During the First World War, he worked as a war painter.