[1] In 1913, he was invited to travel to Europe with a friend who had won a government grant to study singing at La Scala in Milan.

He stayed only a short time, then started for Madrid on foot, but got only as far as Aragón, where he was overcome by fatigue and hunger and taken in by a peasant couple.

In 1919, he finally went to Madrid and opened a studio near the Atocha, where he was a frequent member of the gatherings by Spanish writers, poets and artists at the local cafés.

Among those he befriended there was Gregorio Martínez Sierra, who commissioned him to design costumes and scenery at the Teatro Eslava [es].

[4] After his return, he and Martínez Sierra abruptly parted company and he moved to L'Hospitalet de Llobregat,[4] where he created a series of religious works he called "Los Místicos", followed by a series called "Estampones Montevideanos", inspired by the port and the Barrio Sur in his hometown.