Born in Caibarién, of humble origins, when he finished elementary school he learned the trade of apprentice foundryman. An interest in music arose in him and he became a member of the Caibarién Band. Around this time he opted for a scholarship at San Alejandro in Havana and moved to the capital. Already studying in San Alejandro, he did not abandon music and joined musicians of the stature of Amadeo Roldán and Alejandro García Caturla. He wins a professorship at the School of Fine Arts, attached to San Alejandro, in a competition.

Already in 1938 he decided to dedicate himself entirely to sculpture once he won some awards with wood carvings. He made a visit to Europe (Paris, Naples, Rome, Florence, Venice, Belgium) which helped to increase his relationships and came into contact with the most famous masters. In Paris he meets Lam and has the possibility of accessing the studio of the famous Emil Antoine Bourdelle, thanks to his widow.

He returns to Cuba and continues working intensely. He studied pedagogy and lived in Mexico in 1946, here he presented one of his first personal exhibitions at the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

In Cuba he made some monuments and sculptures for various official and private institutions, such as the one erected in Havana to General Quintín Bandera and the decorations of the Habana Riviera Hotel; The Seahorse, The Nymph; the Shark and another bronze sculpture group, in front of the entrance to the cabaret of said hotel. He also executed the allegorical fountain for transportation that is next to the Bus Terminal, that of the Atlantic Hotel, and the mural of the Santa Catalina ice cream parlor.

Al Triunfo de la Revolución directed San Alejandro until 1963 and later worked in the Ministry of Construction and EMPROVA. He uses different techniques, makes works linked to the architectural environment such as the Giant Crab placed at the entrance to his hometown.

He held more than twenty personal exhibitions since the early date of 1929, several at the National Museum of Fine Arts, and participated in more than thirty group exhibitions in Cuba, Spain and Brazil, in the latter at the VI Sao Paulo Biennial.

He received numerous awards, mentions and recognitions in Fine Arts Salons and Circles. His works are in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts. Florencio Gelabert is a renowned sculptor.

Throughout the country there are sculptural groups, busts, monuments and fountains that identify him as an artist of great craft: The Pantheon of Veterans of the War of Independence in the Colón Cemetery, the Sculptural Complex of the Riviera Hotel, the fountain of the Havana Bus Terminal are emblematic works by Gelabert.