After four years, he received his qualifications and was awarded second place at the National Exhibition of 1884 for his painting of Miguel de Cervantes.

Upon returning to Madrid, he attempted to build a clientele, but things did not go well until late in 1885 when Casto Plasencia, representing the Basílica of San Francisco el Grande, commissioned him to decorate the Chapel of Carlos III on the theme of the Immaculate Conception.

[3] It also led to a commission to decorate the meeting room of the Caja Madrid with allegories on the Cardinal Virtues.

In 1911, as a result of that work, he was commissioned to paint historical murals in the lobby of the Diputacion's governmental palace [es].

Oliva accepted and spent his last years painting small format genre canvases; mostly dealing with peasant life and the local wineries.