Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1903, Firpo moved to France at age 9 when his father made a fortune in condensed milk during World War I. Studying in Nice as a young man, he had a fateful encounter with Albert Gleizes — the Cubist theorist and architect of French modernism — who was so struck by the young Firpo's talent that he became his mentor and held a joint exhibition with him in Nice in 1928. Firpo went on to befriend an extraordinary circle: Matisse wrote of him in 1952, de Chirico, Sonia Delaunay, and Metzinger were all companions. He exhibited at the same salon as Gleizes, Delaunay, Villon, and Léger. Firpo spent the 1930s at Gleizes' communal artistic community "Moly-Sabata" in the Rhône Valley. His works are held in the museums of Marseille, Kobe, and Wuppertal.