A precocious painter, at the age of ten he entered the School of Fine Arts in Olot and made his individual debut in 1929 at the Galeries Laietanes in Barcelona. Just six years later he was appointed professor at the School of Fine Arts in his hometown. He exhibited his work in Spain, Mexico and Switzerland and won first prizes at the National Exhibition in Madrid and the International Exhibition in Palamós, the national landscape prize of the Estrada Foundation and the Ricardo Portabella prize.

Barnadas, with his sketched style, went beyond the lessons learned from realism and impressionism, becoming part of the evolutionary avant-garde of Catalonia at the time. His work also encompasses the human figure, animal themes, still lifes, gypsy families and bathers, captured in the same style in his landscapes.