Benjamin Palencia was born in 1894 in Barrax (Albacete). At the age of 15 he moved to Madrid to study painting and attended Elias Tormo's classes. His way of understanding painting did not coincide with the principles of the official centres, so he eventually did not attend San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts. He did, however, often visit the Museo del Prado, where he studied the work of Velazquez and El Greco.
He received his first award in 1913, at the First Autumn Salon, with a picture portraying the destiny of Larra. Some years afterwards he would start a close collaboration with Juan Ramon Jimenez, and relate to painters such as Pancho Cossio, Francisco Bores and Dali, with whom he attended the Free Academy, founded by Julio Moises. In 1925 he took part in the Exhibition of the Iberian Artists Society at the Palacio del Retiro of Madrid, where he gained remarkable success from the specialized critic.
Following the move of Cossio and other painters to Paris, the artist from Albacete settled in the French capital for two years. There he met great figures and attended the Grande Chaumière drawing lessons. In 1933 he joined Torres Garcia's group of Constructivist Art, exhibiting in Paris with great success. By that time he was appointed artistic director of the theatre company "La Barraca", created by Federico Garcia Lorca.
Jointly with Alberto Sanchez he created the so-called "Vallecas School" in 1942, with the initial participation of young painters like Alvaro Delgado and Carlos Pascual de Lara. The project did not prosper, but this school remains an important reference to a very well-defined artistic group.
Benjamin Palencia received the gold medal for his work "La era" ("The era") (1941), the Great Award from the Hispano-American Biennial in Madrid (1951) and the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts (1978). In 1973 he was elected as a member of the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. He died in Madrid, in January 1980.
His works have been exhibited in Paris, at the National Museum of Modern Art, Pierre Gallery and the Bibliothèque Espagnole; in Madrid, at the Museum of Modern Art, the Biosca, Palma and Leandro Navarro Galleries; in Barcelona, at the Layetana Galleries; as well as in Bilbao, Munich and Düsseldorf.