[1][2] A dandyish, dissolute and often transgressive individual, Martínez de la Vega clashed, both personally and artistically, with traditionalist Bernardo Ferrándiz, founder of the Málaga School; on the other hand, he sympathized with young Picasso and was a lifelong friend of José Denis.

[2] His work, especially in the late part of his career, is considered the closest to modernity within the aforementioned painting school, approaching cultural fin-de-siècle European tendencies like symbolism, post-impressionism and even, according to some authors, pre-raphaelism.

Joaquín was born in Almería to parents Fernando Martínez de la Vega, a civil servant, and Carlota Cisneros Bonifaz, a housewife, both originally from Málaga.

[5][6] In 1869, Martínez de la Vega relocated to Málaga, where he rapidly befriended the painter José Denis and joined the local artistic circles; his recognition was boosted by the medal he obtained at the 1871 National Exhibition in Madrid, with the work A Beggar.

[4] During the late 1870s and early 1880s he rose to local fame and became a popular portrait painter and private drawing teacher for the provincial aristocracy, at a time when Málaga was a prosperous industrial center; however, unlike other painters like Moreno Carbonero, the dandyish and flamboyant Martínez de la Vega did not seek international or even national fame and he would not again send his works to any national exhibitions, which some biographers connect to a dissolute and disordered lifestyle[4] and others to the bad reviews received by a painting he sent to the 1871 exhibition.

With the meager salary as an assistant teacher at the School of Fine Arts as his almost only earnings, he lost his house and had to move to a small accommodation provided by José Denis.

[2] Sauret and Chaves[3] distinguish three different artistic periods in his career: - From 1863 to 1877, under the academical influence of Federico de Madrazo, he developed a romantic style, with a carefully drawn trace and classical composition.

[3] This religious paintings gradually evolved into symbolism and post-impressionism, adopting pastel as his main art medium and abandoning his carefully drawn lines to develop a sketchy technique that is reminiscent of contemporary post-impressionist painters like Toulouse-Lautrec and Ramón Casas.