Pablo Segarra Chias was born in Seville in 1945. He grew up in the Macarena District in the heart of the city, an area devastated by the recent Spanish civil war. At age seven, Chias completed his first oil on canvas painting.
His father gave him a chair to use as an easel, set up outside the local tavern. In this way, he sold his first painting for 10p, which encouraged him to pursue art as more than a vocational commitment. Local craftsmen taught him how to mix and use oil, turpentine, and varnish. They supplied Chias with brushes, canvases and oil paints, amazed and enraptured with his natural abilities at such a young age.
At age thirteen, Pablo got a job at a local cemetery retouching photographs of the dead and restoring headstones. When he turned eighteen, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Seville, a prestigious institution founded in 1660 by the great master Murillo. He broadened his knowledge of painting through an introduction of new techniques which honed his individual style into a distinct impression. His influences include artists such as Murillo, Zurbaran, Garcia Ramos, Gonsalo Bilbao and Gomez Gil.
After completing his formal training, he travelled to Morocco where he became absorbed by its customs. His work brings to mind artists of the nineteenth century such as Léon Comerre and William-Adolphe Bourgoureau in their soulfulness and settings. Inspired by Morocco and its people, his work captures the suggestion of beauty, creating fascination through its mystery.