However, in 1877, when he attended the Exposition Universelle in Paris, he decided that he would pursue the art of painting as his vocation. He then enrolled in the Julian Academy, a school of painting where he was trained by Jean-Paul Laurens who was a well known French painter, illustrator, and teacher. His field of special interest was Impressionism, an art movement that had its origin in France in the nineteenth century. Seven years later, met Arturo Michelena, from Venezuela.