Darío de Regoyos (Ribadesella, Asturias, 1857 – Barcelona, 1913) bridged Spanish painting with the French and Belgian avant-gardes. At the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando [Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando] in Madrid, he studied under Flemish painter Carlos de Haes. In Brussels his friendship with Théo van Rysselberghe led him to join the eclectic group L’Essor which was later known as Les XX. He also established friendships with James Ensor, Auguste Rodin, Paul Signac, Camille Pissarro, and Georges Seurat. In 1880, he traveled to Paris and exhibited his work for the first time at the Salon des Indépendants [Salon of the Independents] and with the artistic society La Libre Esthétique [The Free Aesthetic].

The book España negra [Black Spain] (1899), which included texts by Émile Verhaeren, was the culmination of his Expressionist period. From that moment, he evolved toward Impressionism and Postimpressionism. In the Basque country he spent less time on landscape and developed a pictorial language that emphasized air and light. At that time he came into contact with the Catalan artists who were part of the magazine Pèl & Ploma [Hair and Quill]: Ramon Casas, Miguel Utrillo, and Santiago Rusiñol. From 1911 he resided in Barcelona where he held an exhibition at Galeries Dalmau in the final year of his life. After his death his Belgian friends paid homage to him at the Salon de La Libre Esthétique.