Matoš was born in Tovarnik in the region of Syrmia, today's Croatian Vukovar-Syrmia County.
He went to primary and secondary school in Zagreb. His attempt to study at the Military Veterinary College in Vienna ended in failure. He was conscripted in 1893, but he deserted in 1894, fleeing from Croatia to Šabac and then to Belgrade. He spent the next three years in Belgrade, living in his own words as a "cello player, journalist, and man of letters".
In January 1898 he traveled to Vienna and Munich, stayed for a while in Geneva, and then moved to Paris in 1899, where he would stay for five years. During his stay in Paris, he wrote his greatest stories.
In 1904 he returned to Belgrade, visiting Zagreb in secret (as he was still a deserter) in 1905, 1906 and 1907. Finally, in 1908, after thirteen years abroad, he was pardoned. He finally settled in Zagreb, where he died of throat cancer. He wrote two dozen published or unpublished works: poems, short stories, articles, travelogues, criticisms and disputes.