Joaquín Peinado (Ronda, Málaga, 1898 – Paris, 1975) began his training at a British school in Gibraltar where he studied figure drawing and learned English. In 1918 he enrolled at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando [Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando] in Madrid. At the Residencia de Estudiantes [Student Residence] he associated with Federico García Lorca, Luis Buñuel, Pepín Bello, and José Bergamín. In 1923 he moved to Paris where he lived until his death. In 1924 he participated in the Salon d’Automne [Autumn Salon] and established a relationship with Picasso. He designed the theater set for Manuel de Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show, with Buñuel acting as stage director, and for the film Carmen by Jacques Feyder, starring Raquel Meller.

During the Spanish Civil War he carried out a number of tasks for the Spanish Republic’s Tourism Board in Paris. Once the conflict was over he worked on advertising and illustration for French periodicals. In 1943 he participated in the collective exhibition Un groupe d’artistes de l’École de Paris [A Group of Artists from the Paris School]his first exhibit after temporarily withdrawing from painting in 1930. In 1969 he returned to Spain and successfully showed his work at the Dirección General de Bellas Artes [General Board of Fine Arts] and Galería Theo in Madrid.