A grant from the City Council of Alessandria enabled Morbelli to enrol at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan, in 1867. He was awarded the Fumagalli Prize at the Brera exhibition of 1883 for Last Days (Milan, Galleria d’Arte Moderna) as well as a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889. The work inaugurated a series of paintings on the Pio Albergo Trivulzio home for the aged, which was accompanied by others addressing social themes. He took part in the 1st Brera Triennale in 1891 with work of a Divisionist character. The Divisionist technique of separate colours was also employed in socially committed works subsequently shown at the exhibitions in Milan, Venice and Rome and the intense landscapes that followed them towards the second decade of the new century.