Her first introduction to art was through her parents. Her father, Emmanuel Gonzalès (of Spanish origin but naturalized French), was a well-known writer; her mother, a Belgian, was an accomplished musician. The family salon was a meeting place for critics and writers including Théodore de Banville and Philippe Jourde, the director of the newspaper Siècle. At 16 she had art lessons with the society portraitist Charles Chaplin [1825-1891], who ran a studio for women. Gonzalès rented a studio in the Rue Bréda and under Chaplin’s guidance made figure compositions and landscapes, exhibiting at the Salon of 1870 as his student.
In 1869, she met Édouard Manet [23 Jan 1832 – 30 Apr 1883] and became his student and model. She exhibited for the first time at the Salon in 1870. Thereafter she submitted work every year to the Salon. Until 1872, she was strongly influenced by Manet but later developed her own, more personal style. Her watercolors with their bright colors and soft forms achieved great success. During the Franco-Prussian War she stayed in Dieppe. In 1879, she married a brother of the graphic artist Henri Guérard. She died soon after the birth of a son, and five days after Manet.
