In 1890, Smigelschi held his first exhibition in Sibiu, alongside Schullerus and another Transylvanian Saxon colleague.Gogâlea, p. 17 In 1891Chituță, p. 31 or 1892, he was hired to teach art at the state high school in Elisabetopol. His ambition at the time was to replicate in Romanian Transylvanian art what Mihály Munkácsy had done for Hungarian art, in introducing the peasant as a central character and using the events of his life to create a national iconography.Chituță, pp. 31–32 Smigelschi held his teaching position until 1911, when he retired in order to focus on painting, although from 1905, when he moved to Sibiu, he was on a leave of absence for the same reason. During that interval, he began painting icons, which he advertised as "the only ones befitting our canon". Together with his brother Victor, Smigelschi also joined the Blaj chapter of ASTRA Society, a Romanian nationalist association."Consemnarea membrilor 'Asociațiunii pentru literatura română și cultura poporului român'. Starea dela 1 Iulie 1903", in Analele Asociațiunii pentru Literatura Română și Cultura Poporului Român, Issue IV, July 1903, p. 70
