Bahgoury was born in 1932 into a Coptic Christian family in Bahgora, a small village in Nag Hammadi, Upper Egypt hence the name of his family, ‘Bahgoury’ (coming from Bahgora). In 1953, he embarked on his career as a political cartoonist, a role that would see him featured in Sabah Al Khair and Rose El Youssef. In 1955, he studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Zamalek, Cairo, under the guidance of the Egyptian artist Hussein Bikar. In 1970, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. Soon thereafter, in 1975, he ceased publishing as a cartoonist.

A Silver Medalist for his painting "A Face from Egypt", Bahgoury's artwork has been widely displayed in galleries and museums, including the Louvre Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Amman, the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo, and the Al Masar Gallery for Contemporary Art in Zamalek, Cairo.