Despite being Valencian and studying at the Saint Charles Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Valencia, he joined a circle of artists in the city of Málaga.

He also attended the workshop of Bernardo Ferrándiz Bádenes, forming part of the Malaga school of painting.

[1] Taking advantage of his stay Simonet traveled throughout Italy, visited Paris several times and in 1890 he made a tour of the Mediterranean.

He also traveled to the Holy Land, where he painted his monumental work Flevit super illam (painting) [es]; work for which he received numerous medals including Madrid in 1892, Chicago in 1893, Barcelona in 1896 and Paris in 1900.

In 1893 and 1894 Simonet traveled to Morocco as a war correspondent for the magazine La Ilustración Española y Americana.