Some images involved a bit more stage direction than others, as with Halsman’s collaboration with the Surrealist Salvador Dalí from the late 1940s. The most famous of these images, “Dalí Atomicus,” shows the madcap Dalí aloft, brush and palette in hand. He is flanked by a chair and two easels (holding Dalí canvases) — all elevated, and seemingly floating, above the floor, which heightens the sense of suspension. But the main event is the great curve of water arcing across the image, along with three flying (or flung) cats in damp, disconcerted disarray. For once Dalí’s characteristic look of exaggerated surprise makes sense.

The show also includes six failed attempts at this shot, their flaws carefully noted by Halsman. I was startled to see that in these attempts the center easel holds only an empty frame. It prompted me to look more closely at the published photograph: the image on the center easel is a quite accurate depiction of the flying cats, spiky wet fur and all. It was drawn (or painted) and seamlessly inserted after the fact; the empty frame shadow is still visible on the floor. Dalí didn’t miss much when it came to Dalíesque moments.

Image “The most famous of these images, “Dalí Atomicus,” shows the madcap Dalí aloft, brush and palette in hand. He is flanked by a chair and two easels (holding Dalí canvases) — all elevated, and seemingly floating, above the floor, which heightens the sense of suspension. Credit... The Estate of Philippe Halsman/Laurence Miller Gallery

There is a sublime silliness to Halsman’s images that can make you laugh or at least smile regardless of how often you see them. They may offer incontrovertible proof of Schiller’s claim that “all art is dedicated to joy.” Evidently the simple act of getting off the ground requires giving in to something like joy. You have to let go.

One of the purest examples of this joy is an image of Halsman himself, holding hands with a smiling Marilyn Monroe several feet off the ground. Facing his partner, he seems ecstatic, as if he cannot believe his luck. He will hang with one of the world’s most photogenic beauties for eternity. The two are caught in nearly matching, tucked-knees positions. Only a few other subjects, including Murray Kempton and Bridget Bardot, achieved a similar sense of height and compactness. (Ms. Bardot is in a one-piece bathing suit on a rocky bluff, making you wonder how she landed.)