Born in Madrid, Salinas studied and lectured at the Sorbonne for three years (1914 - 1917) and then returned to Spain as professor of Spanish at Universidad de Sevilla, then of Murcia. Poet, scholar, dramatist, and essayist who was one of the outstanding writers of the Generation of 1927, an influential group of poets that included Jorge Guillén and Federico García Lorca.

Salinas founded the Uversidad Internacional de Santander. Exile in 1936 to the US, he taught and lectured in Europe, U.S., and Latin America. He died in Boston and is buried in the cemetry of San Juan de Puerto Rico.