In 1896 he entered the Royal Higher Academy of Art in Berlin and in 1899 he studied in the workshop of Lorenzo Vallés and at the Free School in Rome.

He was in charge of the illustrations of the colonial legends of Joaquín Díaz Garcés and of the police stories of Alberto Edwards for the Pacific Magazine.

From 1906 and parallel to his life as a painter, he achieved notoriety as a caricaturist and illustrator in different publications born under the auspices of the new journalism of the early 20th century.

In 1908 the Argentine Government acquired his painting "El Abrazo de Maipú", an image that was later reproduced for banknotes and postcards.

During the year 1913 and at the request of the presidents of the Chilean Parliament, Pedro Subercaseaux painted "Discovery of Chile", a work that occupies the Hall of Honor of the former National Congress.