He debuted at the "Salon" in 1889. He won a third prize medal at the "Salon" with his "Amor and Psyche" (1891), the first of his important works, currently at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, in Lisbon. Meanwhile, he also won a painting contest hosted by the Lisbon City Hall (1890), and he participated in the 1st Exhibition of the Artistic Guild of Lisbon ("Grémio Artístico de Lisboa"). After his stay in Paris, Veloso Salgado journeyed to Italy before returning to Lisbon, stopping in Florence, where he studied the primitive painters, made copies of Renaissance works, and painted "en plein air". While in Italy, he made one of his most celebrated works, "Jesus" — which was considered "hors-concours" in the 1892 "Salon" (this painting was lost in 1900 when the ship bringing it back from the "Exposition Universelle" sank). In the 1890s, he also participated in the Munich Art Exhibition, and in the "Exposition Internationale d'Anvers". The Lisbon Academy of Fine Arts made him an "Academician of Merit".