Few people know that the cult filmmaker David Lynch began his career in the visual arts and has remained deeply committed to them ever since. Paintings, watercolors, drawings, lithographs,

and photographs—more recently also musical compositions—form an essential part of his creative practice. Visually powerful films such as The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, and Mulholland Drive made Lynch (born 1946 in Montana) internationally renowned.

The themes, motifs, and formal vocabularies of Lynch’s visual artworks and his films permeate one another. In his images, he draws the viewer into a world governed by the uncanny and the inexplicable. Dark, muted color palettes, deliberate shifts in proportion and perspective, and an atmosphere of unease characterize his visual work. Decay and transience recur as central motifs, particularly in his photographic practice.