During our first class, I referenced a famous work “with cats thrown in the air” that I assumed was by Salvador Dali. At the time, only one other person knew what I was talking about, but my description piqued the interest of both other students and the professor, who asked that I bring in the work one day. Well, here it is: Philippe Halsman’s Dali Atomicus.
Photographs serve to capture essence in an instant, to immortalize a moment. Casual photography, as with family snapshots at a birthday or during a vacation, is meant to commemorate events or keep memories. Professional photography is deeply rooted in aesthetic, with photographers working with light, shadow, scale, and innumerable other aspects to frame a shot. Halsman has said that in surrealism, the quality that makes a work seem “unusual” is the addition or removal of a natural feature. In Dali Atomicus, that feature is gravity. The cats floating in midair and objects suspended in a seeming vacuum lend the photograph a dreamlike, disorienting atmosphere. Surrealism is meant to be surprising, jarring, and often nonsensical. It is a unique form of expression that circumvents traditional rationality to pursue a different kind of logic not normally considered – logic found in dreams. Connections are created between seemingly unrelated objects, and a beautiful new understanding is born.
Here, Dali juxtaposed cats, water, and furniture – all very ordinary objects arranged in unordinary ways for a puzzling effect. What really struck me was that in illustrations, there’s usually an object on which people are meant to focus. Dali Atomicus has no such points. Some people see the cats first, while others notice Dali or the graceful curve of the water, but that’s not the point. Instead, the viewer is meant to take in the photograph in its entirety to receive the full effect.
All in all, I’m glad I mentioned this work in the beginning of the year, because otherwise, I may not have taken a closer look at it. It’s not art in the traditional sense, but a fascinating modern creation that breaks away from convention and explores new, exciting ground.
Title: Dali Atomicus
Name of artist: Philippe Halsman
Date of work: 1948
Materials/Medium: Three cats, buckets of water, chair, canvas frame, painting, stool, piano wires, assistants
Duration/Running Time: Instantaneous Photograph
Genre: Visual Art: Photography: Surrealism
Venue or Location: N/A
Backup Link: http://lovelysqualor.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/dali-atomicus_gr-1.jpg
