He was born in Rome in 1879. From a very young age he was related to the arts. In Rome he studied painting until arriving in Buenos Aires in 1906 where after settling he worked as an illustrator in the newspaper La Prensa. In 1913 he opened his own photography studio located on Viamonte corner Florida and in 1918 he founded “Augusta”, the first local magazine specialized in art.
In 1924 he decided to move his studio to a larger location and jointly open the first art gallery in Argentina established for that purpose. Inaugurated with the presence of President Marcelo T. de Alvear at 659 Florida Street, this space soon became a meeting place for artists, intellectuals and other prominent figures of the Buenos Aires elite. The Friends of Art Association, the magazine Ver y Estimar, the Institute of Modern Art and the first independent theater in Buenos Aires operated in its rooms. Frans van Riel died in 1950. The photography studio closed and since then the gallery passed into the hands of Fran van Riel Jr., who ran it for more than forty years until passing the baton to his daughter Gabriela, continuing the family legacy to this day. .