Breck, the son of a Massachusetts Navy captain, was born at sea on a clipper ship near the Pacific island of Guam in 1860, and lived in San Francisco until his father's death in 1865, when his mother moved the family to Boston. His Family's affluence afforded him the opportunity to pursue his artistic interests, and in 1877 Breck traveled to Germany where he began his formal art training at the Munich Royal Academy under the instruction of Alexander Straehuber, and in 1881 he continued under the instruction of Charles Verlat in Antwerp. Beginning in 1886, Breck continued his training at the Academie Julian, Paris, under Gustave-Rodolphe Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre.

In 1887, Breck became one of the early members of Giverny's artist colony, which also included Theodore Robinson, Blair Bruce, and Theodore Wendel. Compelled by the charms of the village's picturesque landscapes, as well as by the desire to paint en plein aire in the presence of Claude Monet, Breck embraced the Impressionist aesthetic—developing a thicker, broader brushstroke and applying brighter hues. Breck left Giverny in 1890 following a failed romance with Monet's step-daughter, Blanche Hoschede, and returned to Boston.

In the year of Breck's return to Boston, Breck presented a one-man exhibition of his Giverny paintings at the St. Botolph Club that introduced Impressionism to the Boston art world. As one newspaper reported, “Artistic Boston was nearly pushed off its critical equilibrium.” His works inspired the positive movement of Impressionism that occurred in the Boston area through the 1890's. Breck continued to paint Impressionist pictures once in Boston, only now he focused on New England subjects. Some of his most memorable canvases are New England coastal scenes—primarily the rugged coastline of the Massachusetts North Shore, where he spent the remainder of his life.