At nineteen, he moved to Paris to complete his training, where he stayed for five years assimilating all the latest European aesthetics.
In 1907, he married Obdulia Rubio y García, and had three children: Francisca (also an illustrator), María Luisa, and Rafael.
In 1909, he was acquainted with Ramón Gómez de la Serna, with whom he founded the gatherings at the Pombo Café, and became a regular collaborator and draftsman.
In this way, he collaborated with Federico García Lorca in La Zapatera Prodigiosa and with Miguel de Unamuno in El Otro.
After the civil war, he took refuge in France, where he remained until 1941, until the Nazi troops invaded Paris.