A central figure in 20th-century Mexican photography, Armando Salas Portugal profoundly reshaped the visual representation of Mexico’s landscape, architecture, and pre-Hispanic heritage. Beginning his work in 1934, his practice stands out for its remarkable blend of technical precision and aesthetic sensitivity, the result of his chemistry studies at UCLA and a life devoted to exploring the Mexican territory.A key collaborator of Luis Barragán, Salas Portugal helped craft a modern architectural vision of Mexico that gained international acclaim. His photographic work, deeply rooted in national identity, forged a modern visual language where nature, geometry, and symbolism coexist with poetic resonance.

Within the vast photographic archive of Armando Salas Portugal lies a singular series that occupies a prominent place in the history of 20th-century experimental photography. Developed between 1967 and 1971, this collection belongs to the field of abstract photography—not only for its innovative technical approach but also for the conceptual depth it embodies. Named by the artist himself as "Photography of Thoughts" the series represents a rupture with traditional canons of the medium, completely dispensing with the use of the camera and shifting visual exploration into the laboratory, where chemistry and light become the main creative agents.

Salas Portugal’s Photography of Thought is part of an experimental tradition that challenges conventional notions of photography as document or visual testimony. Instead, it leans toward an exploration of the medium in its purest form. In this sense, his work reflects on the limits of representation and the potential of the photographic medium to become an autonomous space of artistic expression—where matter and light give shape to a poetics of perception and abstraction.