Núñez's artistic gifts influenced the school's director and reputed painter Gilberto Hernández Ortega (1924–1979) to enroll young Elsa in the academy.

"[3] While living in Madrid for her postgraduate studies during the 1970s, she modeled for the photographer Cristina García Rodero and met her husband, Dominican painter, actor and filmmaker, Angel Haché.

In 1979 she was awarded a scholarship with her husband by UNESCO to visit Children's Creativity Workshops throughout Spain and France, to study the methods of cultural activities that apply in those countries.

"Her experiences during the 1970s were reflected in her work through the incorporation of the white color, a reduction of black tones, greater attention to landscapes, musical references, tropical flora and fauna, and painterly qualities reminiscent of the Romantics.

"[3] She was a contributor to 'Homenaje a las Hermanas Mirabal' (1997), a public art project that was painted on the obelisk located on the seafront road along the coastline of the city of Santo Domingo.

[3] María Elena Ditrén, Director Museum of Modern Art, described Elsa Nuñez's work as a reflection of the turbulent '60s, which were characterized by fear, anxiety and terror of the Trujillo dictatorship and the Revolution of April 1965.