Salvador DALI by Philippe Halsman – “Dali Atomicus”. 1948

Salvador DALI (1904.1989)

Original photograph.

Dali Atomicus.

Silver gelatin print of the famous photograph by Philippe Halsman taken in New York in 1948.

Later printing. Keystone stamp and typed caption on the back. Slight transparency of the caption on the front.

Size: 15 x 21.3 cm.

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In 1941, Philippe Halsman and Salvador Dalí met at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York, where the painter was exhibiting. This marked the beginning of a thirty-seven-year collaboration. In 1948, the two men, impressed by the emergence of the atomic age and the laws of physics, worked together on a photograph of levitating objects. Dalí, meanwhile, continued work on Leda Atomica, a canvas seen (unfinished) to the right of the photograph, in which almost all the elements are also levitating.

This iconic photograph was finally perfected after twenty-six attempts. The chair on the left is held aloft by Halsmann's wife, while the objects (the easel and the canvas) are suspended by invisible threads. They count to three: the assistants throw three cats and a bucket of water. On four, Dalí jumps into the air and Halsmann takes the shot. After six hours, the photo is perfect!