Early Work

First Days of Spring....This is one of my first paintings that contributed to the surrealist movement.


I painted this when I was seventeen.

The year is 1965. I was looking at some of my first works of art and started thinking about my years in school. No one in my life that was close to me was surprised when I was expelled from school at the young age of fifteen. For me, this was a good thing because school was boring and it allowed me more time to focus on what I really wanted to do at that point in my life: Art.

Much to my father's dismay, I was accepted to the San Fernando Royal Academy of Arts in Madrid in 1921. Initially, my father disliked the idea but later didn't seem to mind as much after my mother passed away. It was here, at the academy where I met Luis Buneul and Garcia Lorca. We collaborated on two Surrealist films and became very close friends. During my time at the Royal Academy I spent my mornings painting and drawing. My afternoons were spent discussing avant-garde movements. I particularly enjoyed discussing Surrealism, which at the time was just forming. Madrid was on the verge of change, waging a battle between traditional values and the entry of outside influences such as jazz and Freud.

My years at the academy did not last long. Again, I was not surprised and either were my family or friends. The academy did not accept my opinions and political beliefs. After just two years I was expelled from the academy and even jailed for a month for disturbance of the peace and political agitation. I was not upset as I found the lecturers to be rather dull and disappointing. They lectured on ideas and concepts that were not new to me. I yearned to move on to bigger and better ideas and was eager to do so. My family was very upset when I was expelled, especially my father. Not only was I determined to be a great artist but I also was sure to be a successful writer and filmmaker as well. I was well on my way before I was expelled from the academy.(Descharnes and Neret 15-20).