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Portrait of Luis Bunuel (1924)
Portrait de Luis Bunuel

Analysis: Dalí met Luis Bunuel at the Royal Academy of Arts in Madrid, where he studied from 1922 until 1926, when he was finally expelled. Bunuel was one of a circle of intellectual friends that greatly influenced Dalí; among them was Frederico Garcia Lorca, the Spanish poet and playwright. Bunuel was to become a Surrealist film maker, completing two films with Dalí: “Un Chien Andalou” in 1929 and “L’Age d’or” in 1930.
This “Portrait of Luis Bunuel” was painted when the sitter was 25 years old. It shows a very solemn and thoughtful-looking man who stares out beyond the painter and viewer to the distance. The palette of the portrait is quite restricted, making use of only a few somber colors – this use of color emphasizes the serious look on the subject’s face, helping to give the portrait a grave atmosphere.
The portrait is in a similar style to that of other paintings, sculpture and architecture of this period. A Catalan movement called “Noucentisme”, meaning a style of art that returned to the Classical while attempting to bring in something of the contemporary spirit of modern life, was evidently an influence on Dalí.
Source: dali-gallery.com