As a young man, he moved to Mexico City to complete his formal and artistic studies at the Academia Nacional de Artes Plásticas and in the studio of Spanish painter José Bardasano.
When he returned his entire production from the trip was purchased by the International Art Society, over sixty paintings and several pencil drawings.
[2][3] He was a co founder of the Sociedad Mexicana de Acuarelistas (Mexican Society of Watercolorists) to promote the idea that this medium should be considered equal to other forms of painting.
[4] Coghlan’s work can be found in the collections of the Museo de Arte Moderno, the Museo de Arte in Sinaloa, Mitchel Museum in Mount Vernon, Illinois, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Alfredo Guati Rojo National Watercolor Museum and various universities as well as in private collections in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Scotland and Chile.
In 1968, his work "El entierro" won the Exposición Solar of the Concurso Nacional at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, as part of the cultural events of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
[1][5] Elements in his work include landscapes, walking paths, oceans, volcanos and scenes of Mexican people and customs.