Antonio Muñoz Degraín began studying architecture in his youth by his father's decision, although he soon abandoned it for painting. A student at the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia from the age of twelve, he was a pupil of the painter Rafael Montesinos, although his training was essentially self-taught. He took part assiduously in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts from 1862 to 1915, and it was his successes in these competitions that would have a decisive influence on his artistic career.

In 1862 he was awarded an honorary medal, third in 1864 and second in 1867 and 1871. In 1870 he was asked to decorate the Cervantes Theatre in Malaga and settled in the Andalusian capital for good. He married there and years later w...