Obregon was born in 1920 in Barcelona, Spain, the son of a Colombian father and a Catalan mother. Most of his childhood was spent in Barranquilla, Colombia and Liverpool, England. In 1939, he studied fine arts in Boston for a year and then returned to Barcelona to serve as Vice Consul of Colombia for four years. In 1948, Obregón was named Director of the School of Fine Arts in Santafé de Bogotá. His career as director lasted barely a year, but the seeds of change that he planted took rapid root. The following year, he moved to Paris, France and exhibited work throughout France, Germany and Switzerland. He then went to Alba, near Avignon in France, where he remained until 1955. Lived in Cartagena, Colombia until his death.