La Palangana was a photography collective formed in 1959 by members of Madrid's Real Sociedad Fotografica, friends sharing similar aestnetic and theoretical convictions. Their chief aim was to move away from the academic, pictorialist criteria by which photography was judged at the time, and at the same time to construct a faithful record of contemporary Spain in images. With this in mind, they worked primarily on the outskirts of the city and in villages - on attitude considered eccentric if not downright subversive. Though varying in their approach, these photographers laid the foundations of what today might be termed Spanish Neorealism; together with other leading names, they formed the so-called Madrid School. The group was named after a photograph by Francisco Ontanon, showing portraits of the six founder members placed in a basin (palangana in Spanish) used for developing-fluid.