Dalí Atomicus
Dalí Atomicus is a surreal photograph of the artist Salvador Dalí jumping, taken by the photographer Philippe Halsman in 1948. The photograph also features three cats flying through the air. At least 26 takes of the photograph were made before Halsman was satisfied with the result. The process took between five and six hours. The final version was published in Life magazine, along with some outtakes. Time magazine considers Dalí Atomicus one of the "100 most influential photographs ever taken". Background Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, a Surrealist, first met American photographer Philippe Halsman in New York City in 1941, when the photo agency Black Star assigned Halsman to photograph the installation of one of Dalí's exhibitions at the Julien Levy Gallery in April. The two met again in October, when Halsman photographed the costumes Dalí made for a ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House. A photo Halsman took on a city rooftop, of the ballerina Tamara Toumanova with another dancer dressed in an oversized rooster costume, had elements of surrealism common in Dalí's own visuals. The image became Life magazine's "Picture of the Week", and solidified the friendship between the two. For decades afterward, the two artists would collaborate at