Rudolf Quittner came from a manufacturing family and studied at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna. Subsequently, he was working in his father's textile mill in Hoschiitz, initially as a draftsman and then as a secretary.

During his technical studies, Quittner was also busy painting, and finally he visited Paris, the Académie Julian and studied landscape painting with Camille Pissarro. He traveled to study most of Europe, the Orient and North America (US., Canada and Mexico). In between, he lived in Paris, where he was encouraged by Claude Monet, and from 1901 also in Vienna. From 1905 he was a member of the cooperative of visual artists in Vienna.