In Memoriam: David Lynch

Absurdity is what I like most in life.

David Lynch (American, 1946-2025) with his Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, 2006. Photograph © Daniele Venturelli.

David Lynch, American filmmaker, actor, visual artist, author, and musician, passed away on January 15, 2025 at the age of 78. The creator of surrealistic films had such a unique style that the term “Lynchian” was coined to describe his work and that of his imitators. In a career spanning over 50 years, Lynch received numerous accolades including nominations for Academy Awards, Emmys, and Golden Globes. Lynch’s film Wild At Heart (1990) won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and he won Best Director at that festival in 2001 for Mulholland Drive. The director was given a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 2006 and an Academy Honorary Award in 2019.

In Lynch’s honor, I’ve gathered some videos, film posters, stills, and photographs from the director’s long career.

I don't know why people expect art to make sense. They accept the fact that life doesn't make sense. It's so freeing, it's beautiful in a way, to have a great failure, there's nowhere to go but up. – David Lynch

A collection of clips from Lynch’s work.

The poster for Lynch’s first feature-length film, Eraserhead, 1977.

I look at the world and I see absurdity all around me. People do strange things constantly, to the point that, for the most part, we manage not to see it. That's why I love coffee shops and public places—I mean, they're all out there. – David Lynch

Lynch directing The Elephant Man, 1980

Kyle MacLachlan and Lynch on the set of Blue Velvet, 1986

If you stay true to your ideas, film-making becomes an inside-out, honest kind of process. – David Lynch

Kyle MacLachlan, Michael J. Anderson, and Carel Struycken, still from the episode “Beyond Life and Death” from Lynch’s television series Twin Peaks, 1990.

Lynch directed this music video for Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game (1990). The song was part of the soundtrack for Lynch’s 1990 film Wild At Heart. Scenes from the film are incorporated into the music video.

An artist makes a painting, and nobody bugs him or her about it. It's just you and your painting. To me, that's the way it should be with film as well. – David Lynch

The poster for Lynch’s 2001 film Mulholland Drive, for which he won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival.

Happy accidents are real gifts, and they can open the door to a future that didn't even exist. It's kind of nice sometimes to set up something to encourage or allow happy accidents to happen. – David Lynch

The trailer for Lynch’s last feature film, Inland Empire (2006), for which he acted as writer, director, producer, editor, cinematographer, sound designer, and part of the construction team.

Lynch: Man Eating, 2010. Mixed media. Tilton Gallery, New York, New York, USA. © Estate of David Lynch.

David Lynch was an artist of many talents whose unnerving perspective made the world more weirdly fascinating because he shared it with us.

---

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back soon with another post.