Thaulow spent time in northern France during the 1890s, where he painted several variations of rural French streets bathed in moonlight. The plein-air painters had introduced a new perspective, whereby even an ordinary village street could become a worthy subject for a painting. It was precisely the picturesque qualities of such an unassuming motif that fascinated Thaulow.

French Village Street in Moonlight was most likely painted in the late 1890s, when Thaulow was influenced by the atmospheric approach to painting, imbuing his work with a distinctive poetic quality.