Beginning his artistic career as a student of Isidore Pils at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Goeneutte left the studio upon Pils’ death, when it was taken over by Henri Lehmann, and moved to Montmartre to paint on his own. There the artist met Renoir, for whom he modeled on occasion, and Marcellin Desboutin, who sparked Goeneutte’s interest in engraving, etching and dry-point. Goeneutte first exhibited at the Salon in 1876 and continued to exhibit several pictures each year from then on. Though he was closely associated, and even influenced, by Manet, Renoir and Degas, Goeneutte never chose to show with the Impressionist group, preferring the official venue. He made trips to London in 1880, Rotterdam in 1887 and Venice in 1890, all of which provided new subjects for his landscape paintings and town views.

Goeneutte was a social realist, like Raffaelli, at the end of the day - an artist who did not embroider his portrayals of everyday life, which were as likely to include scenes from the lives of the working class as the haute-bourgeoisie.

In 1891 Goeneutte moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, where Dr. Paul Gachet had a studio in his home. The artist had worked with Gachet on a publication, La Renaissance littéraire et artistique, earlier in 1872 and again on the periodical Paris à l’eau forte, and in 1892 Goeneutte exhibited a portrait of his friend the Doctor. Goeneutte was an accomplished engraver, illustrating books, including La Terre by Emile Zola, published in 1899.

Museum collections in which Goenutte features include: the Musée d'Orsay (Portrait of Dr. Gachet); The Tate, London, (Avenue de Clichy under Snow); Musée Carnavalet , Paris, (Portrait of Charles Goeneutte); Alphonse Georges Poulain Museum, Vernon , Eure, (Florist boulevard Rochechouart); Gallery Camille Pissarro, Pontoise; Museum of Fine Arts, Bordeaux; Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum; the De Young Fine Art Museum, San Francisco, (The Pont Neuf); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (Road to Auvers); Baltimore Museum of Art, (The Pont de l'Europe.)