The 1949 Salvador Dali painting, Cartel des Don Juan Tenorio, was snatched from the wall of a New York City gallery. New York Police Department/Associated Press

New York City police are looking for a man who snatched a $150,000 Salvador Dali painting from a private art gallery by posing as a customer.

The man walked into the Venus Over Manhattan art gallery on Madison Avenue on Tuesday and showed interest in the painting before asking a security guard if he could take a photo, police say. He then grabbed the watercolor and ink painting from the wall, put it in a shopping bag and fled.

Video surveillance cameras captured images of a slight, balding man, wearing a black-and-white checked shirt and dark jeans.

The 1949 painting is Cartel des Don Juan Tenorio by the Spanish surrealist painter. It was part of the inaugural exhibition at the gallery, which opened in May.