Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali, Untitled, Study for the ballroom from the dream sequence in Spellbound, 1944

The Ballroom from the dream sequence in Spellbound, 1945

Salvador Dali, one of the most famous artists of the surrealist movement, was born in Figuera, Spain in 1904. In 1945, Hitchcock and Dali collaborated to create a dream sequence in Hitchcock’s film, Spellbound. Though the entire sequence was filmed, most was cut due to length restrictions. Hitchcock’s studies for the scene, one of which is shown above, were based on William Cameron Menzies’ storyboard. Critics and the public alike had long speculated about Hitchcock’s interest in surrealism; this collaboration laid these assumptions to rest once and for all. In regards to working with Dali, Hitchcock said, “I requested Dali. Selznick the producer had the impression that I wanted Dali for the publicity value. That wasn’t it at all. What I was after was […] the vividness of dreams […] All Dali’s work is very solid and very sharp, with very long perspectives and black shadows […] All dreams in movies are blurred. It isn’t true. Dali was the best man for me to do the dreams because that is what dreams should be. So that was the reason I had Dali.”