The son of an artist, Parrish was educated at Haverford College, Pennsylvania, and studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (l891–94) and the Drexel Institute of Art (1895), both in Philadelphia. Over the course of the next two decades he created many posters, magazine covers, and book and advertising illustrations, and he also painted murals. By the 1920s he was the highest-paid commercial artist in the United States. His popularity began to decline in the late 1930s, but his illustrations never lost favour with some segments of the American public; there was a renewed appreciation of his work in the 1960s and '70s.

Parrish is best known for his depictions of fantasy landscapes populated by attractive young women. He used meticulously defined outlines and intricately detailed, natural backgrounds, and his unusual colours give his pictures a dreamlike and idyllic atmosphere.