He relocated to Milan in 1876 and enrolled at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, studying under Giuseppe Bertini, Giovanni Morelli, and Federico Faruffini.

In 1884, at the Mostra of Turin, he displayed the following oil paintings: Oporto; May: First Communion; and Crepuscoli; and four watercolors: Aurora; Herb Market; Suonatori; Storia di un nudo: Studio.

He was involved in the creation of the Dream Room at the 7th Biennale in 1907 and exhibited at the Salon des Peintres Divisionnistes Italiens organised in Paris by the art dealer Alberto Grubicy.

It was Alberto and his brother Vittore who founded the Società per l’Arte di Gaetano Previati in 1911, purchasing a large number of his paintings and showing them in exhibitions in Genoa (1915) and Milan (1916 and 1919).

Grief-stricken over the death of members of his family, he died in 1920 at the town of Lavagna in Liguria, where he was in the habit of staying for long periods.