Generally, he is considered to be an Expressionist, but his style was heavily influenced by El Greco, the Black Paintings of Goya and the works of Eugenio Lucas Velázquez.

[1] His father was born in Mexico and came to Spain after receiving an inheritance from his relatives in Ruesga; marrying a cousin from Arredondo.

He also made frequent trips to La Mancha, Aragón and Andalucía, making sketches and notes as he went to the carnivals and visited the cemeteries, hospitals and bordellos;[3] deriving great inspiration from the mobs at El Rastro, the market in Madrid.

Well-supplied with money from his father, he took singing lessons, attended the theater and developed a great passion for the bullfights.

[citation needed] Eventually, he settled in Madrid in 1917, where he frequented the parks, the Museo del Prado and the National Archaeological Museum.