Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Buñuel’s works were known for their avant-garde surrealism which were also infused with political commentary.
Buñuel in 1929
Calanda, Spain
Luis Buñuel (top row, right), Madrid, 1923
Jean Epstein, Buñuel's first film collaborator
Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and ideas. Its intention was, according to leader André Breton, to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality", or surreality. It produced works of painting, writing, theatre, filmmaking, photography, and other media as well.
The Treachery of Images, by René Magritte (1929), featuring the declaration "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" ("This is not a pipe")
Max Ernst, The Elephant Celebes, 1921
Cover of the first issue of La Révolution surréaliste, December 1924
Yvan Goll, Surréalisme, Manifeste du surréalisme, Volume 1, Number 1, October 1, 1924, cover by Robert Delaunay