In 1871 he moved to Madrid and began to study architecture as well as attending classes by the painter Carlos de Haes at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts). He travelled extensively in Europe, and in Paris (1880-81) and Brussels (1881) came into contact with various artistic and intellectual groups, such as L'Essor and Les XX in Brussels.

Shortly afterwards, in 1890, he went to the Basque Country, where he met intellectuals such as Miguel de Unamuno and Pío Baroja. In 1894 he began his connection with Barcelona when he presented some of his work at the General Exhibition of Fine Arts held in the city. In 1905 he held his first individual exhibition at Sala Parés. Prior to that he had only showed occasional examples of his work in collective exhibitions at Els Quatre Gats (Montsió, 3 bis). In 1911 he went to live in Barcelona for good and became an influential figure for the group of artists known as La Colla del Safrà (The Saffron Gang), due to his choice of marginality and decadence as the subject matter of his work.

The trips he made throughout his life provided him with a more avant-garde vision and defined his artistic outlook, which led some Catalan artists to see themselves reflected in him. His paintings are close to those of the European Pointillist and Impressionist painters, as can be seen in El xàfec. Badia de Santoña (The Shower. Santoña Bay, 1900; MNAC collection).

He was one of the artistic directors of the last issues of the magazine Luz and published wood engravings of his in it depicting scenes he had experienced on a journey around Spain.