José Balmes was born in 1927 in the town of Montesquiu in Catalonia, where he spent his childhood until the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936.

In what would become his new homeland, Balmes completed secondary education at the Liceo Barros Borgoño [es], and in 1943 he entered the School of Fine Arts of the University of Chile.

At the university, he interacted with other artists, including future National Arts Prize winner Gracia Barrios, whom he would marry in 1952.

Along with Gracia Barrios and other artists, he would form the informalist Grupo Signo, with whom he would present works in Barcelona, Madrid, and Paris.

[6] José Balmes died on 28 August 2016 at the Clínica Las Condes [es], where he had been hospitalized for pneumonia since the beginning of that month.