Matoš was born in Tovarnik in the region of Syrmia, today's Croatian Vukovar-Syrmia County. He went to primary and secondary school in Zagreb. His attempt to study at the Military Veterinary College in Vienna ended in failure. He was conscripted in 1893, but he deserted in 1894, fleeing from Croatia to Šabac and then to Belgrade. He spent the next three years in Belgrade, living in his own words as a "cello player, journalist, and man of letters".