He took a degree in engineering, but on a trip to Paris in about 1888 he came into contact with the world of art and was attracted by it, particularly by shadow theatre. He did some painting and illustrations for advertising posters, but his main work was as a disseminator of the new current and its artistic activities, both through the magazine linked to the Quatre Gats café (Montsió, 3 bis), of which he was the editor, and the magazine Luz.

In 1893 he coincided with P. Romeu at the Théâtre des Ombres Parisiennes doing puppet shows and animation, and they went to Chicago together to sell the show there, but they were unsuccessful. While he was in Paris he worked as a correspondent for La Vanguardia until 1893. During this period he painted scenes of the city, such as, for example, Notre Dame de París nevada (Notre Dame de Paris under Snow, 1890; Cau Ferrat, Sitges).

On returning to Barcelona, he enlivened the discussions and shows at Els Quatre Gats together with R. Casas, P. Romeu and S. Rusiñol. He was commissioned to design Palau Maricel in Sitges (1910-1915) for Charles Deering, an American multimillionaire, and some years later collaborated on the Poble Espanyol (1926-1929; Marquès de Comillas, 13-27), a historicist set of buildings constructed for the Barcelona International Exhibition of 1929.