Born in Taunton, Massachusetts, Florence V. Robinson settled in Paris probably around 1890, where she studied painting with landscape artist Henri-Joseph Harpignies (1819-1916), James Abbott McNeil Whistler (1834-1903) and the accomplished watercolorist Pierre Vignal (1855-1925). Robinson chose to specialize in watercolor, painting landscapes and urban views throughout France, Italy, Northern Africa and Spain.
Her first exhibition in Boston came in 1893, when she submitted several watercolors to the Boston Art Club annual exhibition. She continued to exhibit paintings there until 1907. She had one-artist exhibitions in 1909 and 1913 at the Charles E. Cobb Gallery in Boston.
Robinson was a member of the Société des Aquarellistes in Paris, the Royal Society of Artists in London and the American Water Color Society. She exhibited paintings at the Paris Salon in 1899 and contributed to exhibitions held at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Boston Art Club.
She never married, and eventually settled in New York City. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Harvard University, the Baltimore Museum of Fine Arts and the Cleveland School of Art.