Media

Moving Pictures: Visual References and Artistry in the Works of David Lynch

Andreas Halskov
Af Andreas Halskov
The renowned film and television director David Lynch began his career as a painter, and in this video-essay, “Moving Pictures,” Andreas Halskov explores the visual references and artistry in Lynch’s narrative films and television series. When making his first short films, Lynch said that he wanted to make “moving paintings,” and Halskov argues that his films and television series have a painterly quality and that they include a number of more or less explicit allusions to the works of visual artists like René Magritte, Francis Bacon, Edward Hopper, Vilhelm Hammershøi and Salvador Dalí. Halskov argues that the different painterly images and references serve at least three potential functions, and that they remind us of the profoundly visual nature and heritage of Lynch’s productions. This video-essay concludes the small series on David Lynch here in 16:9.

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Facts

  • Screenplay: Andreas Halskov
  • Production and editing: Jan Oxholm

Excerpts from: Six Figures Getting Sick (1966) © Lynch, Absurda/Ryko, Twin Peaks (1999: “Pilot”)  © Lynch/Frost, ABC/CBS Home Entertainment, Blue Velvet (1986) © Lynch, De Laurentiis, Eraserhead (1977) © Lynch, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Lost Highway (1997) © Lynch, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Mulholland Dr. (2001) © Lynch, Criterion,  Un chien andalou (1929) © Buñuel & Dalí, Transflux Films, Laura (1944) © Preminger, 20th Century Fox, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) © Whale, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Suspiria (1977) © Argento, Blue Underground, L’année dernière à Marienbad (1961) © Resnais, Studio Canal, La pointe courte (1955) © Varda, Criterion, Persona (1966) © Bergman, Criterion, “Mamma Mia” (1975) © Hallström, Universal UK, Kiss Me Deadly (1955) © Aldrich, Criterion, “New York Movie (1939)” © Edward Hopper, “Chop Suey” (1929) © Edward Hopper, “La condition humaine” (1935) © René Magritte, “Delcacomania” (1966) © René Magritte, “Head 1 /Head 2” (1947-1948) © Francis Bacon, “Interiør, Strandgade 30”(1905) © Vilhelm Hammershøj, “Vietnam Napalm” (1972) © Nick Ut/AP, still af Sergei Eistenstein, wiki commons, “Twin Peaks Meets Edward Hopper” (2015) © Rinaldo Zoontjes.

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