The obvious influence of Picasso's work on Dalí can be seen, above all, in his masterly pictorial technique. Order and control in the placement of volume, space, figures, and color are paramount in this composition, going beyond any sense of one particular style.

Dalí's models remind us of the portraits of art dealers D.H.Kahnweiler and Ambroise Vollard painted by Picasso in 1910.

    Self-portrait with L'Humanitie was painted while Dalí was at the Madrid Academy of Arts. The title refers to a French Socialist journal L'Humanitie to which Dalí subscribed. In the background to the right of Dalí is part of the word "L'Humanitie"; Dalí cut out the title from the front page and pasted it on to the painting, giving a collage effect, to create contrasting textures and formats within the piece.
    As with a lot of artists, Dalí did many self-portraits that were reflective of his life at the time of painting them. Here we see an almost featureless Dalí compared to the realistic portrait in the 1921-22 painting, Self-portrait with Raphaelesque Neck. Although this featureless depiction is reflective of the Cubist style of painting that Dalí was exploring, it may also be indicative of his feelings about himself, a young man trying to find his own identity. Dalí has included humanity here almost as a way of stating who he is through his reading materials, which were rather exclusive, rather than through his featureless self. Dalí has no mouth in this painting, an image that is repeated in many of his later paintings, personifying loss of control and subsequent fear.

    Dalí met Luis Bunuel at the Royal Academy of Arts in Madrid, where he studied from 1922 until 1926, when he was finally expelled. Bunuel was one of a circle of intellectual friends that greatly influenced Dalí; among them was Frederico Garcia Lorca, the Spanish poet and playwright. Bunuel was to become a Surrealist film maker, completing two films with Dalí: Un Chien Andalou in 1929 and L'Age d'or in 1930.
    Portrait of Luis Bunuel was painted when the sitter was 25 years old. It shows a very solemn and thoughtful-looking man who stares out beyond the painter and viewer to the distance. The palette of the portrait is quite restricted, making use of only a few somber colors - this use of color emphasizes the serious look on the subject's face, helping to give the portrait a grave atmosphere.
    The portrait is in a similar style to that of other paintings, sculpture and architecture of this period. A Catalan movement called "Noucentisme", meaning a style of art that returned to the Classical while attempting to bring in something of the contemporary spirit of modern life, was evidently an influence on Dalí.