Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí Once Made a Short Film Together and the Result Is Mind-Blowing

When it comes to artistic collaboration, this may be one of the most bizarre yet truly outstanding works to ever come out of two masters of their craft joining together.

Salvador Dalí is one of the most famous painters of the 20th century, mesmerizing audiences for decades with his striking surrealism. Walt Disney captured the imagination of moviegoers for years with his animated fairy tales and spawned one of the most successful animation studios in the world. But few people know these two masters of their craft at one point worked together, and it would be almost 60 years before their vision was complete.

In 1945, Disney and Dalí began work on Destino, Spanish for “Destiny,” a short film that “tells the story of Chronos, the personification of time and the inability to realize his desire to love for a mortal,” according to the YouTube video seen below.

Disney studio artist John Hench worked with Dalí and Donald W. Ernst on the project, according to Wikipedia. But due to financial hardship at Disney following World War II, Disney put the project on hold, despite Hench assembling a 17-second animation test that wowed the studio. It wouldn’t be until 54 years later that the dust would be blown off the project and it was finally completed.

From Wikipedia:

“In 1999, Walt Disney’s nephew Roy E. Disney, while working on Fantasia 2000, unearthed the dormant project and decided to bring it back to life. Disney Studios France, the company’s small Parisian production department, was brought on board to complete the project. The short was produced by Baker Bloodworth and directed by French animator Dominique Monféry in his first directorial role. A team of approximately 25 animators deciphered Dalí and Hench’s cryptic storyboards (with a little help from the journals of Dalí’s wife Gala Dalí and guidance from Hench himself), and finished Destino’s production.”

The stunning final product was finished in 2003 and nominated that year for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Watch the whole thing here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GFkN4deuZU