Gottardo was the eldest son of Giovanni Segantini and Luigia Bugatti, sister of the furniture designer Carlo Bugatti. Gottardo's artistic training came from his father, but he also studied at the Brera and received lessons from the Zurich artist Hermann Gattiker. His style as a painter was significantly influenced by his father's work, both in terms of subjects (the Engadine landscapes) and of the divisionist technique. Gottardo also wrote his father's biography. He was a skilled printmaker and engraved a few celebrated paintings by his father.