Max Slevogt was born on October 18, 1868 in Landshut, Germany. He studied at the Munich Academy from 1885-1889. In 1889, Slevogt visited Paris and attended Académie Julian.

In 1896, he drew caricatures for the magazines Simplicissiums and Jugend, and in the following year Slevogt had his first solo exhibition in Vienna. He returned to Paris in 1900, where he was represented in the German pavilion of the world exhibition. In 1901, he was appointed professor at the Munich Art Academy.

After the outbreak of World War I he was sent as an official war painter to the western front in 1914. He became a member of the royal academy of the arts in Berlin after serving in the war. He designed scenery for the performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni in the Dresdner state opera in 1924. In 1929 he was given a large exhibition in the Prussian academy of the arts in Berlin for his 60th birthday.

His last years were spent working on a religious mural called Golgatha in the peace church in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Max Slevogt died in Leinsweiler, Germany on September 20, 1932.