He began studying industrial engineering, but very soon, in 1885, enrolled in La Llotja, the Barcelona School of Fine Arts, to take up painting. He earned his living as a painter producing work on various different subjects, but for financial reasons had to set up his own school of painting and drawing in Girona, where he had gone to live some years before that.

In 1902 he gave up painting and turned to literature, contributing to various Girona-based magazines in which he set out his theories on the ideas of Modernisme. In 1911 he moved to Barcelona where he edited the magazines L'Esquella de la Torratxa and La Campana de Gràcia. At the same time, he wrote articles for the newspapers La Publicitat and La Veu de Catalunya. He was sent to prison for an article he had published.

In spite of the success he achieved as a writer, he continued to teach painting at the Escola del Bosc on Montjuïc, a school run by Barcelona City Council.

A champion of Modernista ideas, he very early on confronted the new Noucentista ("1900-ist", a term coined in 1906 to refer to 20th century Catalan culture) current.