Stefan Simony belonged to the same generation of artists as Johann Nepomuk Geller (1860-1984) and Maximilian Suppantschitsch (1868-1953). He studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. His teachers were Griepenkerl and Huber; Huber instructed him in animal painting. In addition he studied landscape painting as a disciple of Lichtenfels.

In the late 1870s, Stefan Simony started painting the Wachau region near Vienna with its ships and animals in the fields. During World War I (1914-1918) Stefan Simony frequently stayed in the Wachau and concentrated on his work while many of his younger colleagues did their military service.