Vintage gelatin silver print, printed by Halsman
10 2/5 × 13 in | 26.5 × 33 cm

One of the longest and most celebrated creative partnerships in art history was the one between portrait photographer Philippe Halsman and Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí. Having first met in 1941, Halsman and Dalí embarked on a creative partnership that lasted for thirty-seven years and resulted in thousands of pictures.

“They were like two schoolboys collaborating, trying to shock the public”, says Irene Halsman, who, as a young girl, often assisted her father on set. “They were gleeful: ‘Let’s do this!”

Humor fueled the longevity of Halsman’s friendship and collaborative spark with Dalí. Neither shied away from what others may have thought outrageous. In Halsman’s New York studio (“Dalí would call up my father every year when he came to New York”), the two men would ‘play’ – their term for putting their avant-garde ideas and scenarios into practice.