I had the honor and the fortune of personally meeting David Lynch in 1987 in Monzambano, a small town in the province of Mantua.

The unforgettable meeting took place in the home of a mutual friend, a painter to whom I had dedicated a documentary. The coincidence—both fascinating and meaningful—lay in the fact that Lynch, before establishing himself as a filmmaker, had embarked on an artistic career as a painter, a passion that has always accompanied his professional evolution. Even today, many of his paintings are exhibited in internationally renowned museums and galleries, a tribute to his multifaceted artistic sensitivity.

Becoming an artist was a dream for Lynch that manifested itself in his adolescence, a period in which his creative curiosity began to expand into other areas. In addition to painting, he turned to music, where he distinguished himself not only as a composer but also as a singer and musician. His musical presence goes beyond composition—it extends to the soundtracks of his films, where he actively contributes, infusing his work with a unique and unrepeatable sonic dimension.

Music, in fact, has always been a fundamental element for Lynch, both in the creation and atmosphere of his cinematic works. For him, music was never merely background but a precise and essential language, capable of shaping perception and expanding the boundaries between reality and imagination. Music was not just a component of the narrative but its deepest essence.

However, cinema is the art that definitively captured his heart. In 1966, Lynch moved to Philadelphia and enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where his passion for the seventh art took concrete form. It was in this environment that he began his first experiments with the camera, creating the short film Six Men Getting Sick. This bold and unconventional early work earned him his first significant recognition, winning the academy’s annual competition.

It marked the beginning of a long series of short films that, though brief, stood out for their profound and total expressive freedom—a hallmark of his style.

His first feature film, Eraserhead (1977), became a cult classic and a source of inspiration for many directors, including Stanley Kubrick, who openly declared it his favorite film. The movie, with its unmistakable mix of unease and surrealism, tells the story of a man whose girlfriend gives birth to a deformed child, set in a claustrophobic and dreamlike atmosphere. It is said that Kubrick showed the film to his cast during the shooting of The Shining as an example of cinema that broke the mold—a testament to the deep impact the film had even on one of the greatest masters of world cinema.

With this film, Lynch not only established his reputation as a visionary and unconventional director but also solidified his position as a filmmaker capable of evoking powerful emotions through disturbing imagery and enigmatic narratives.

Lynch’s next film, The Elephant Man (1980), represents one of the pinnacles of his career, not only for its visual and narrative power but also for the emotional intensity it conveys. The film, which tells the story of Joseph Carey Merrick—a British man known in Victorian society for his extraordinary physical deformities—explores the human condition with a raw and realistic lens and addresses universal themes of marginalization, compassion, and dignity.

Merrick, who became famous in 19th-century England as "The Elephant Man," was a subject of medical study and an emblem of social discrimination.

The film is a reflection on the body and on how society perceives it. Lynch, with his characteristic sensitivity to anguish and drama, was able to translate Merrick's life into a story rooted in deep humanity, raising questions about beauty, human worth, and the capacity for acceptance and understanding.

His direction, imbued with rare delicacy, conveyed Merrick’s painful experience not only through the screenplay but also through John Hurt’s extraordinary performance, which brought to life a tragic and moving character, evoking deep empathy from the audience.

The Elephant Man was a resounding success, both critically and with audiences. The film received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Screenplay, further cementing Lynch’s reputation as one of the most promising filmmakers on the international scene.

Though it did not win any of the awards, the film became a milestone in Lynch’s career, marking a significant shift from the experimentation of his early works to more complex narrative engagement, while still retaining his distinctive stylistic and thematic choices.

In 1985, Lynch met Isabella Rossellini, a talented actress and daughter of two icons of world cinema, Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. This meeting marked the beginning of a long and meaningful artistic collaboration, culminating in the celebrated Blue Velvet (1986), a film that would become one of his most iconic works. Their relationship was not only personal but also professional, with Isabella Rossellini becoming a recurring presence in his films.

Blue Velvet blends noir, thriller, and social commentary and is one of the works that best represents the Lynchian universe, where the contrast between the appearance of normality and the underlying reality of violence and corruption is explored with psychological depth.

Over the years, the film received critical acclaim, earning Lynch his second Oscar nomination for Best Director. Rossellini, for her part, won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, a recognition that further solidified her role as Lynch’s muse. The film explores themes of obsession, voyeurism, and the dark side of small-town America, doing so with an aesthetic vision that reflects the anxieties and contradictions of contemporary society.

Isabella’s beauty and grace, with her magnetic gaze, seemed to perfectly embody the essence of Lynch’s cinema—always striving to explore the tensions and fractures hidden behind the apparent ordinariness of everyday life. Despite their international fame and success, both David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini proved to be incredibly humble and almost reserved—qualities that were evident in every gesture.

I still remember with emotion the day I met them in the countryside of Monzambano: an afternoon that remains indelible in my memory. Lynch’s simplicity and warmth were disarming—as if he were an old friend. He spoke enthusiastically about his new project, a TV series called Twin Peaks, which would debut in 1990. His eyes lit up as he described the vision and themes of the series, and in that moment, I understood just how deeply connected he was to his art. Isabella, at his side, radiated a grace that seemed almost ethereal, making the atmosphere even more special and intimate.

The series debuted on ABC on April 8, 1990, and immediately became a cult phenomenon and an unprecedented success in the history of television. Twin Peaks combined the serialized format of the soap opera with elements of thriller, noir, and surrealism, creating a complex narrative that mixed mystery, humor, and unease.

The story of a murder in a small town in the American Northwest quickly evolved into a reflection on the human psyche, obsession, and the conflict between good and evil. With its distinctive visual style and unique atmosphere, the series marked an era in television history, influencing countless creators and ushering in a new language for television storytelling.

The success of Twin Peaks was extraordinary. No other project by Lynch would ever reach such widespread popularity, and the series is still considered a cornerstone of pop culture. Lynch’s ability to mix genres and push beyond the traditional boundaries of visual storytelling—combining surrealism and realism—has made him a vital figure in the cinematic and television landscape. Over time, the series has become a true cult classic, still subject to analysis and discussion today.

In the years that followed, Lynch continued to work on film and television projects, but his career was marked by a constant return to aesthetic and thematic exploration. Some of his most significant works include Wild at Heart (1990), Lost Highway (1997), Mulholland Drive (2001), and Inland Empire (2006), the latter being his only film shot entirely in digital.

All of these works have become cult films, establishing him as one of the most original and powerful voices in contemporary cinema. Lynch has maintained a unique visual language, and while his films remain enigmatic and challenging to decipher, they have consistently moved and captivated audiences, prompting viewers to reflect on their fears, desires, and contradictions.

In 2017, Lynch released the long-awaited final eighteen episodes of Twin Peaks, a miniseries that sparked a wave of excitement among longtime fans. Despite the continued success of Twin Peaks as a television masterpiece, Lynch has always maintained a very personal and solitary approach to his art, avoiding the mainstream and continuing to pursue an aesthetic and narrative style that reflects his interest in the depths of the human mind.

Lynch’s last on-screen appearance was in Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans (2022), in which he appeared in a brief but meaningful role—a tangible sign of his influence on generations of filmmakers. His presence in Spielberg’s film, symbolic and unobtrusive, once again confirmed his status as a master and reference point in the world of cinema.

Sadly, in January 2024, Lynch announced that he was suffering from pulmonary emphysema—a condition linked to his long-standing smoking habit that had followed him since adolescence. The news was met with sorrow by many fans, aware that Lynch, despite his indomitable spirit and unique vision, was facing a personal battle that would mark the final years of his life.

David Lynch passed away on January 15, 2025, at the age of 78, in the home of his daughter Jennifer. Five days later, he would have turned 79. The news was announced on Facebook with a touching message:

There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say: 'Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole…"

These words captured the essence of Lynch: a man who, even in facing life’s difficulties and darkness, always found a way to look beyond, toward beauty, imagination, and creativity.

David Lynch leaves behind a legacy that continues to live in his films, his series, and the way he revolutionized visual storytelling, influencing directors, writers, and artists of all kinds. His death, though a painful moment, does not erase the indelible mark he left on popular culture—a mark made of dreamlike visions, disturbing stories, and an incredible ability to delve into the human unconscious, revealing its deepest contradictions.