--- description: Inspired by Salvador Dalí's painting, the photograph has changed portrait photography title: The Photo That Changed Modern Portraiture image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a4cafbfc0051b8/6988a03eab6d77771f6aab7c/salvador-dali-philippe-halsman-dali-atomicus-40.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Photo That Changed Modern Portraiture by [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 13, 2016 11:00 AM CUT  "Dali Atomicus", 1948. "Dali Atomicus", 1948.Philippe Halsman—Halsman Archive by [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 13, 2016 11:00 AM CUT Capturing the essence of those he photographed was Philippe Halsman’s life’s work. So when Halsman set out to shoot his friend and longtime collaborator the Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, he knew a simple seated portrait would not suffice. Inspired by Dalí’s painting _Leda Atomica_, Halsman created an elaborate scene to surround the artist that included the original work, a floating chair and an in-progress easel suspended by thin wires. Assistants, including Halsman’s wife and young daughter Irene, stood out of the frame and, on the photographer’s count, threw three cats and a bucket of water into the air while Dalí leaped up. It took the assembled cast 26 takes to capture a composition that satisfied Halsman. And no wonder. The final result, published in LIFE, evokes Dalí’s own work. The artist even painted an image directly onto the print ahead of publication. Before Halsman, portrait photography was often stilted and softly blurred, with a clear sense of detachment between the photographer and the subject. Halsman’s approach, to bring subjects such as Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe and Alfred Hitchcock into sharp focus as they moved before the camera, redefined portrait photography and inspired generations of photographers to collaborate with their subjects. In a world before Photoshop, it took the ingenuity of Salvador Dali and photographer Philippe Halsman—plus some deft cat-throwing—to produce this gravity-defying scene ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4429888/dali-atomicus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4429888/dali-atomicus/"},"headline":"The Photo That Changed Modern Portraiture","datePublished":"2016-08-13T11:00:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:01:02.234Z","description":"Inspired by Salvador Dalí's painting, the photograph has changed portrait photography","url":"https://time.com/4429888/dali-atomicus/","keywords":["LightBox","photography","Behind the Photos"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a4cafbfc0051b8/6988a03eab6d77771f6aab7c/salvador-dali-philippe-halsman-dali-atomicus-40.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a4cafbfc0051b8/6988a03eab6d77771f6aab7c/salvador-dali-philippe-halsman-dali-atomicus-40.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"salvador-dali-philippe-halsman-dali-atomicus-40","caption":"Spanish painter Salvador DALI. \"Dali Atomicus.\" 1948.Contact email:New York : photography@magnumphotos.comParis : magnum@magnumphotos.frLondon : magnum@magnumphotos.co.ukTokyo : tokyo@magnumphotos.co.jpContact phones:New York : +1 212 929 6000Paris: + 33","creditText":"Philippe Halsman—Halsman Archive","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/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4429888/dali-atomicus/","name":"The Photo That Changed Modern Portraiture"}}]}] ```