May Vale was born to a large family in Ballarat in 1862, attending the National Gallery School in Melbourne with fellow artists Clara Southern and Jane Sutherland under George Folingsby and Frederick McCubbin. Family travels to Europe  allowed early studies at the National Art Training School in South Kensington and later studies with James Linton in London and at the Academie Julian in Paris, encouraging an interest in painting en plain air. Another return visit to London (1906-08) saw her enrolled at the South Western Polytechnic, London to learn jewellery making, metalwork and the difficult technique of enamelling, which led to  her acclaimed pioneering Australian landscapes. As well as her own art career and numerous exhibitions, Vale presided over art classes and student excursions and exhibitions and furthered the promotion of women artists through her roles within the Victorian Artists Society; Yarra Sculptors' Society and the Buonarotti Society.