--- description: The Muhammad Ali photo that appears on TIME's new cover was captured in 1963 by Philippe Halsman, a prolific portrait photographer title: Behind TIME's New Muhammad Ali Cover image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4c26d2f792f5a26/69889667fb4eac109488dc9e/muhammad-ali-fb.jpg?branch=production ---  * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Behind TIME's New Muhammad Ali Cover  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:52 AM CUTPublished: Jun 4, 2016 3:28 PM CUT  Philippe Halsman—Magnum Photos  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:52 AM CUTPublished: Jun 4, 2016 3:28 PM CUT The image of [Muhammad Ali](http://time.com/muhammad-ali-dead/?xid=homepage "undefined") that appears on TIME’s new cover commemorating the boxing legend was taken in 1963 by [Philippe Halsman](http://time.com/3806779/surprising-playful-photos/ "undefined"), one of the most prolific portrait photographers of the 20th century. Halsman, who was born in Latvia in 1906 and died in New York in 1979, was deeply interested in psychology and spent hours engaging with his subjects about their interests. He [often asked them to jump](http://time.com/3974905/discover-the-genius-of-philippe-halsmans-surrealist-portraits/ "undefined"), and he noted that, in doing so, their “attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.” One of Halsman’s most iconic photos, [_Dalí Atomicus_](https://www.moma.org/learn/moma%5Flearning/philippe-halsman-dali-atomicus-1948 "undefined")_,_ depicted Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí playfully floating in mid-air alongside cats, easels, a chair and a stream of water. Among others—including those of Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe—Halsman’s photo of Ali, who died Friday at age 74, remains one of his most surprising images. Ali—who has been featured on the cover of TIME four times—first appeared on the cover in the issue [published March 22, 1963](http://time.com/3537815/muhammad-ali-dead-the-dream/ "undefined"), when his name was still Cassius Clay. He again [appeared on the cover on Feb. 27, 1978](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,919377,00.html "undefined"), featured in a story that concluded, “He is unlikely to go quietly into the past.” _For much more on Muhammad Ali, see TIME’s_ ALI: The Greatest_, a 112-page, fully illustrated commemorative edition. Available at retailers and at_ [_AMAZON.COM_](http://amzn.to/1rbALvP "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4357508/muhammad-ali-time-cover-philippe-halsman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4357508/muhammad-ali-time-cover-philippe-halsman/"},"headline":"Behind TIME's New Muhammad Ali Cover","datePublished":"2016-06-04T15:28:48.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T00:52:16.000Z","description":"Philippe Halsman was one of the premier photographers of the 20th century","url":"https://time.com/4357508/muhammad-ali-time-cover-philippe-halsman/","keywords":["remembrance","photography","LightBox","Muhammad Ali"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4c26d2f792f5a26/69889667fb4eac109488dc9e/muhammad-ali-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4c26d2f792f5a26/69889667fb4eac109488dc9e/muhammad-ali-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"muhammad-ali-fb","caption":"muhammad ali TIME cover","creditText":"Philippe Halsman—Magnum Photos","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4357508/muhammad-ali-time-cover-philippe-halsman/","name":"Behind TIME's New Muhammad Ali Cover"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"100 Photographs: Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston","description":"Neil Leifer’s iconic image of Muhammad Ali towering triumphant over Sonny Liston pinpoints the moment Ali became a larger-than-life legend","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/usmFW6V8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-04T04:40:11.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/usmFW6V8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4357508/muhammad-ali-time-cover-philippe-halsman/","duration":"PT5M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4357508/muhammad-ali-time-cover-philippe-halsman/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```