The Obsession of a Genius: The Love Story of Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali and Gala - a story of unusual love

Read the beginning of the story in the previous article “A Woman Born for a Genius”

She understood men, loved sex and was a liberated, calmly confident woman. Dali was not like everyone else in his intimate life, but Gala, understanding his desires and nature, entered this world, where he felt like a real man with her, not leaving him even a corner of his own soul, wherever it was not.

Determined to make Dali a famous artist, Gala made every effort to ensure that people heard about him. She used all her connections, organized all kinds of exhibitions with Dali’s works, sometimes took his works and went with them to various connoisseurs of modern art, and soon her efforts were crowned with success and the whole world heard about the surrealist artist.

Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1946

At this time, Gala’s husband still continued to hope that she would return to him and again become a source of his inspiration, as she had been before.

He wrote love letters to her, but received no response to any of them, then he began to drink a lot and completely lost the ability to create. Out of pity for him, or maybe for some other reason, Gala did not divorce her poet husband and accepted Dali’s proposal only after Eluard’s death in 1934.

The Dali couple settled in Paris, where Gala, having left her husband and daughter, began the main work of her life, “creating the Dali brand.” She did everything to inspire her genius. She was the living embodiment of passion, maternal care and sincere friendship. Dali felt protected with her, he could create, and she, his Gala, took care of the rest.

What a successful union, the genius of the artist Dali and the pragmatism of Gala, who not only skillfully managed her husband’s creative career, but also constantly inspired him, being his muse. She always told Dali: “You are a genius, and that is undeniable!” - and soon Dali really believed in his genius.

Dali paints extraordinary paintings one after another, and signs them with the double name “Gala-Salvador Dali”. Gala did everything to show Salvador's paintings to everyone who could appreciate and buy them, from her rich friends, among whom were Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Aragon, Disney, Hitchcock, to the owners of art galleries. She protected her husband from everything that could interfere with his painting, and did not allow people to see him when he was working or thinking about a new painting. Having shouldered everyday life and production responsibilities, she created all the conditions so that nothing would distract Dali from the creative process.

Now the whole world has heard about Dali’s paintings, and people have been gossiping about the family life of the unusual couple. Some called them rich perverts, others schizophrenics, which was not strange, because they never ceased to shock the public with their eccentric antics.

They had nothing to do with gossip and condemnation. Dali constantly draws his wife, in different images, Helen the Beautiful, the Mother of God, the Woman with Chops on her Back, etc. Gradually, interest in Dali's paintings began to fade and the prudent Gala gave him the idea of creating designer items that are successfully sold among the rich all over the world.

Among such things are sofas in the shape of women's lips, strange watches with a bizarre dial, elephants on thin legs and other embodiments of the artist's fantasies. Dali became bolder; there was no longer any need to instill confidence in his genius. As they say now, it was practically a star fever, at the moment of “exacerbation” of which, he even quarreled with his close friend Breton and other surrealists, once declaring: “Surrealism is me!”

Gala and Dali often began to spend time separately from each other; she did not get tired of changing lovers, who were one younger than the other. Dali spent his time surrounded by young beauties, organizing crazy orgies, where he acted as an observer and spent a huge amount of money on his entertainment. In 1965, Dali met 19-year-old Amanda Lear, then a model, singer and artist known as Peki D'Oslo, at the Castel restaurant, who would be his friend and muse for 16 years. They say Amanda Lear is a play on the words L'Amant Dal, which means Dalí's mistress in French.

Dali’s first compliment to the young beauty was the words: “You have a beautiful skull and a high-quality skeleton.”

Amanda is considered Dali's second muse, but the only woman who could influence Dali was always Gala. Amanda Lear herself, recalling her acquaintance with Gala, said that Dali, before introducing her to his wife, was nervous and seemed to be afraid that she would not like her. When Dali introduced the two women to each other, Gala looked at Amanda with narrowed eyes, examining the makeup of the girl who loved glitter and bright lipstick, and said, “Oh God, what is this?!”

A relationship where a man introduces his wife and his mistress, while expecting approval from the first, may seem strange, but in the couple Dali and Gala, strangeness was common. Despite the fact that initially Gala showed strong dissatisfaction with the appearance of Amanda in Dali’s life, cut out her face from photographs in magazines, and hurled harsh remarks at her¸ after some time, the three of them were often seen together, while attending social parties and other events.

Gala realized how good Dali was with his new Muse, and this was probably her genius. She mentored Amanda and entrusted her with taking care of Dali, and even sponsored the girl. Once Gala asked Amanda to give her word that she would marry Dali after her death. But by the time Gala passed away, Amanda had forgotten about her promises, being busy with her career and by that time already having a stamp in her passport.

In 1968, Dali gave his divine woman Gala, as he always called her, a medieval castle in Pubol, which was built in the 11th century. He once promised to give her a castle and fulfilled this promise. Dali himself could attend the Gala in Pubol only at her personal invitation.

Through a table on the second floor, Gala could admire the white horse that stood on the first floor.

Designer Gala outfits.

Gala was very afraid of old age, like probably every woman, especially one who was used to shining and conquering. She spent a huge amount of money on plastic surgery and young lovers; Dali himself was no longer interested in her.

She organized orgies in her castle, invited young men who entertained her by playing the piano, dancing and mercilessly robbing her. She constantly needed Dali’s money, and she repeatedly told Amanda Lear that she would better stimulate the artist to create.

Jeff Fenholt and Gala

She devoted her whole life to Dali, all he wanted was to be the center of the universe. Now she wanted to live for herself. Her last crush was the young singer Jeff Fenholt.

In 1980, Dali was admitted to a clinic in Barcelona. Dr. Pigwert considers his condition very serious, and his mental health was especially worrying. Returning home after the clinic, Dali painted the darkest painting “Extramined Angels” that he had ever created.

Gala, as before, was next to her Dali; even during the most severe attacks of depression, he needed her presence. She was forced to abandon Jeff and devote all her time to Dali. Having said goodbye to the last fragment of the illusion of her youth, the old woman becomes angry with her husband and periodically falls into fits of rage. Jean-François Vogel, a journalist who was well acquainted with the Dali couple, said: “Dali was very harsh and harsh with Gala. He always did what he wanted, not what she wanted.”

On January 26, 1981, the magazine “Ell” published an article in which Dr. Rumeger, Dali’s first psychoanalyst, gave an interview: “The truth is that Dali has lost the will to live. What is happening now is suicide simply because Gala no longer cares about him. She is eighty-six years old. Her mind is clear no more than two or three hours a day; She devotes all this time to thoughts about Jeff... whom she also calls Salvador... She scolds Dali and scolds him as best she can. Thus, the whole world around Dali collapses. You have, of course, heard of babies separated from their mothers because of war or serious illness, who die of despair. The same thing happens with Dali.”

In the relationship between Dali and Gala, the tenderness that once brought them so much pleasure is now rare; the old spouses now and then attack each other with their fists. In 1982, Gala did not step well and fell, breaking her femur, and was taken to the hospital in severe pain. Due to many plastic surgeries, a woman’s skin cracks and multiple wounds form. She slowly falls into agony, occasionally in moments of clarity, inquiring about Dali.

Unable to see his Gala turn into a piece of meat, he visits her only once in the hospital. The rest of the time he waited for her return. She was brought home in April. Gala no longer looks like herself, she can hardly speak. The sisters of mercy look after her, wash her, comb her hair, turn her over, and try to ease the suffering of a dying woman. Dali placed Gala's bed so that she could see the sea. At night he comes to her room and lies down on the next bed to be close to his dying wife. He ordered a screen to be installed between the beds, as he experienced great agony when he looked at what his beautiful Galuchka had become.

On the afternoon of June 10, Dali cried out in a drawn-out voice. The alarm was raised. Gala looked out the window with frozen eyes: she died.

Dali buried his wife in Pubol Castle, in a crypt that she herself had built during her lifetime, and where two places were prepared for her and her Dali. Due to the ban on the export of the body of a very ancient Spanish law, in force since the time of the plague, Dali decides to break it for the sake of Gala and, wrapping her body in a blanket, transports her to Pubol Castle in the limousine in which they once traveled, young and happy. Italy and France, so the family limousine turned into a hearse.

Gal's embalmed body was dressed in a red dress and buried in a coffin with a glass lid in a narrow circle of only the closest people. Dalí survived his Gala by seven years, which he spent in seclusion in the castle in Pubol, where the woman of his life lay under a glass lid. Gal's death seemed to return him to an embryonic state; he stopped speaking and practically did not move.

The amazing relationship between Dali and Gala lasted 53 years. The extraordinary talent of the artist Dali and the amazing character, the unusual nature of Gala’s female nature, representing a successful symbiosis of two people, turned out to be a resounding success.

Perhaps the most extraordinary couple of their time became an example of how two wild and extraordinary natures can coexist for more than half a century, remaining devoted to each other in the special sense of the word. Was Gala a femme fatale? I think so. But this is not the most unusual thing about her; she, wanting to be a muse, practically a work of art for her husband, herself became the creator of his talent.

This woman inspired self-confidence in the insecure artist, revealed the scale of his talent and was his reliable companion all his life, protecting and preserving him.

A woman who knew some special secret, who managed to become not only the muse of a genius whom he worshiped.

Until her old age, Gala did not lose her passion for life, wanting to burn as long as possible and as brightly as possible. Who knows, but maybe if Gala and young Dali had not met, the world would never have recognized the great artist Salvador Dali.

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Sunday, September 30, 2012 03:41 + to quote book Salvador Dali's wife - Gala Dali

Behind every great man there was a great woman. For Salvador Dali, this was the Gala, which he idolized. In the dedication to the book “The Diary of a Genius,” Dali will write: “I dedicate this book to MY GENIUS, my victorious goddess GALA GRADIVA, my HELENA OF TROJAN, my HOLY HELENA, my brilliant like the surface of the sea, GALA GALATHEA THE SERIOUS.”

Salvador Dali was afraid of contact with women, but could talk about them from the point of view of a great connoisseur of female beauty. Here is one of his thoughts from the book “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Told by Himself”: “At that time I became interested in elegant women. And what is an elegant woman?...So, an elegant woman, firstly, despises you, and secondly, she shaves her armpits clean...I have never met a woman who is both beautiful and elegant - these are mutually exclusive characteristics. In an elegant woman, the line between her ugliness (of course, not clearly expressed) and beauty is always noticeable, which is noticeable, but nothing more... So, the face of an elegant woman does not need beauty, but her arms and legs should be impeccable, breathtakingly beautiful and - as far as possible - open to view. Breasts don't matter at all. If she is beautiful, great, if not, it’s unfortunate, but in itself it doesn’t matter. As for the figure, I make one requirement for it that is indispensable for elegance - the design of the hips, steep and lean, so to speak. You can spot them under any clothing; they seem to pose a challenge. You probably think that the pattern of the shoulders is no less important? Nothing like this. I allow anyone, as long as it excites me. Eyes - This is very important! The eyes must at least seem smart. Elegant women cannot have a stupid facial expression, which could not be more characteristic of a beauty and is in remarkable harmony with ideal beauty...”

Dali met his Russian muse in the summer of 1929, when he was 25 years old. But he dates his first memories of her back to the time he was studying in the first grade with Senor Traiter: “...It was in the wonderful theater of Senor Traiter that I saw something that turned my whole soul upside down - I saw a Russian girl, whom I fell in love with at that very moment.” . Her image was imprinted at that moment on every cell of my being, from my pupils to my fingertips. My Russian girl, wrapped in white fur, was carried away somewhere by a troika - almost miraculously she escaped from a pack of ferocious wolves with burning eyes. She looked at me without looking away, and there was so much pride in her face that my heart sank with admiration... Was it Gala? I never doubted it - it was her.”

Gala was the wife of Paul Eluard, a French poet. Dali and Gala saw each other - and after their first meeting they did not part for 53 years: they were separated by Gala’s death in 1982. Gala means "celebration" in French. It truly became a celebration of inspiration for Salvador Dali. The main model for the painter. The life of Elena Ivanovna Dyakonova, who went down in world art history as Gala, is a fascinating novel. Elena Dyakonova was born in Kazan in 1894, which means that she was not 12 years older than Salvador Dali, as some claimed, but exactly 10 years. My father died early; he was a modest official. Her mother remarried a lawyer, and when Elena turned 17, the family moved to Moscow. She studied at the gymnasium with Anastasia Tsvetaeva, who left a verbal portrait of her, and it will be very interesting to look at it: “In a half-empty classroom, a thin, long-legged girl in a short dress is sitting on a desk. This is Elena Dyakonova. Narrow face, light brown braid with a curl at the end. Unusual eyes: brown, narrow, slightly Chinese-set. Dark thick eyelashes are so long that, as friends later claimed, you could put two matches on them side by side. There is stubbornness in the face and that degree of shyness that makes movements abrupt.” Pubol Castle, which Dali gave to Gala In her youth, Gala was a sickly teenager, and in 1912 she was sent to Switzerland to be treated for tuberculosis. At the Clavadel sanatorium, a Russian girl met the young French poet Eugene-Emile-Paul Grandel. His father, a wealthy real estate dealer, sent his son to a sanatorium to cure him... of poetry. Grandel (later he took another name - Eluard) was not cured of poetry, but Gala got rid of tuberculosis, but both were overcome by another illness, much more dangerous - they fell in love with each other. It is then that she will call herself Gala - with the emphasis on the last syllable. Perhaps from the French word meaning “cheerful, lively”? It was a real passionate romance that ended in marriage. But first the lovers had to separate, Eluard went to France, Gala to Russia, but they continued their love in the epistolary genre, through the exchange of letters. “My dear beloved, my darling, my dear boy! - Gala wrote to Eluard. “I miss you like something irreplaceable.” She addressed him as a “boy”, and sometimes even as a child - this Freudian address indicated that Elena had a strong maternal element, and she always loved men younger than herself, wanted to be not only their mistress, but also their mother . To look after, instruct, groom... Eluard's father was categorically against his son's connection with a sick and capricious girl from cold and mysterious Russia. “I don’t understand why you need this Russian girl? - asked the poet’s father. “Isn’t Parisian enough for you?” But the fact of the matter is that the Russian girl was special. In the spring of 1916, Elena Dyakonova decided to take fate into her own hands and went to the coveted Paris. She was 22 years old. Due to the groom's service in the army, the wedding was delayed, but still took place (Gala achieved her goal!) - in February 1917 in the Church of St. Genevieve, the walls of which remembered Joan of Arc. Paul Eluard's parents presented the newlyweds with a huge bed made of stained oak. “We will live on it and we will die on it,” said Eluard and was mistaken: they died separately. Paul Eluard had a great influence on Gala. He turned a modest Russian fan of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky into a real woman, almost a fatal “vamp” (for this she had all the makings), and she, in turn, becoming his muse, constantly inspired him to create more and more new poems. And yet, the romantic role of the poet’s wife is not in the spirit of Gala. She openly admitted: “I will never be just a housewife. I will read a lot, a lot. I will do whatever I want, but at the same time maintain the attractiveness of a woman who does not overexert herself. I will shine like a cocotte, smell like perfume and always have well-groomed hands with manicured nails.” A year after the wedding, their daughter Cecile was born. Gala and Paul adored their daughter, but still they did not have a normal family. Paul Eluard could not sit still; separations and trips to pick up his husband did not contribute to domestic happiness. Mutual dissatisfaction with each other arose. Stormy quarrels gave way to no less stormy declarations of love. “We have grown into each other” - this is what Elena thought. But the ingrowth still turned out to be not so strong. At the same time, we must not forget that Paul Eluard was a poet, and, therefore, looked at the world with different eyes than ordinary people. Let's put it this way: he looked at a crazy world with crazy eyes. And accordingly, I built my relationship with my wife this way. For example, he loved to show nude photographs of Elena to his friends, and she gradually took on the role of not so pure as the poet’s sinful muse. It is no coincidence that a love triangle soon formed: Elena - Paul Eluard - artist Max Ernst.

The future Gala quickly learned what freedom of love means and immediately took advantage of its fruits. So before meeting Salvador Dali, Gala was already a woman who knew what she needed. In August 1929, Paul Eluard with his wife Elena (she is 35 years old) and daughter Cecile (she is 11 years old) went from Paris by car to Spain, to the fishing village of Cadaques, to visit the young Spanish artist Salvador Dali (he is 25 years old). The poet met Dali at the Parisian nightclub “Bal Gabarin” and received an invitation to relax in the outback, away from the noise. On the way to Spain, Eluard enthusiastically told his wife about the unusual work of Dali and his shocking film “Un Chien Andalusian.” “He never ceased to admire his dear Salvador, as if he was deliberately pushing me into his arms, although I didn’t even see him,” Gala later recalled. The artist's house was located outside the village, on the shore of a crescent-shaped bay. It was painted white, with eucalyptus trees and flaming geraniums growing in front of it, standing out brightly against the black gravel. To amaze the new guest, about whom he had heard something, the artist decided to appear before her in an extravagant manner. For this purpose, he striped his silk shirt, shaved his armpits and painted them blue, rubbed his body with an original cologne made of fish glue, goat droppings and lavender to use the sensory effects. He put a red geranium behind his ear and was about to go out to the guests on the beach in such an irresistible form, when he saw Eluard’s wife in the window. She seemed to the artist the height of perfection. He was especially impressed by Elena’s face, stern and arrogant, as well as her boyish body and buttocks, about which Eluard wrote: “They lie comfortably in my hands.” The eyes were also striking. Wet and brown, large and round, they, according to the same Eluard, had the ability to “penetrate through walls.”

Dali washed off all the paint and appeared on the beach almost as an ordinary person. He approached Elena and suddenly realized that in front of him was his only and true love. The realization of this came to him like an insight, like a flash, which is why he could not talk to her normally, because he was attacked by convulsive, hysterical laughter. He couldn't stop. Elena looked at him with undisguised curiosity. Gala was not a beauty, but she had great charm, feminine magnetism, and she gave off vibes that bewitched men. It is no coincidence that French book publisher and art collector Pierre Argille, answering questions from journalists, said: “This woman had extraordinary attractiveness. Her first husband, Eluard, wrote her the most tender love letters until his death. And only after he died in 1942, Dali and Gala officially got married. Salvador drew her endlessly. To be honest, she was not that young to be a model, but artists, you know, are not an easy people. Since she inspired him..."

In her book “The Secret Life,” Dali writes: “She admitted that she took me for a nasty and unbearable type because of my lacquered hair, which gave me the appearance of a professional Argentine tango dancer... In my room I always walked naked, but if I had to go to the village and spent an hour getting myself in order. I wore immaculate white trousers, fantastic sandals, silk shirts, a fake pearl necklace and a bracelet on my wrist.” “She began to view me as a genius,” Dali further admitted. - Half-crazy, but possessing great spiritual power. And she was waiting for something - the embodiment of her own myths. I thought that maybe I could become this incarnation.” Gala's version: “I immediately realized that he was a genius.” Eluard was talented, and Dali was a genius, and Elena Dyakonova-Eluard immediately identified this. She had an innate artistic flair. What happened next? And then Gala allegedly said a “historical phrase” to Salvador Dali: “My little boy, we will never leave each other.” She firmly decided to connect her life with the artist Dali and leave the poet Eluard. Essentially, she abandoned not only her husband, but also her daughter. What was more in this decision? Adventurism or deep calculation? It's difficult to answer. What could Paul Eluard do? He packed his bags and left the refuge of Salvador Dali, having received a kind of compensation for the loss of his wife in the form of his own portrait (Portrait of Paul Eluard). Dali explained the idea of its creation this way: “I felt that I was entrusted with the responsibility of capturing the face of the poet, from whose Olympus I stole one of the muses.” At first, Gala and Salvador lived together unofficially and only after Eluard’s death did they officially get married. They got married on August 8, 1958, 29 years after their first meeting. Moreover, the ceremony was private, almost secret. It was, of course, a strange marriage in all everyday senses, but not in the creative sense. The sensual Gala, who even in Dali’s time did not want to remain a faithful wife, and the virgin artist who was terrified of intimacy with a woman. How did they get along with each other? Obviously, Dali turned his sexual energy into creative energy, and Gala realized her sensuality on the side. As Spanish journalist Antonio D. Olano testifies: “She was truly insatiable. Gala tirelessly pursued the young men who posed for Dali, and often got her way. Dali was also insatiable, but only in his imagination.” In everyday life, they turned out to be an almost ideal couple, as often happens with completely different people. Salvador Dali is an absolutely impractical, timid, complex person who was afraid of everything - from riding in elevators to concluding contracts. Regarding the latter, Gala once said: “In the morning, El Salvador makes mistakes, and in the afternoon I correct them, tearing up the treaties he frivolously signed.”

This surreal Madonna was a cold and quite rational woman in everyday affairs, so with Dali they represented two different spheres: ice and fire. “Gala pierced me like a sword directed by Providence itself,” wrote Salvador Dali. “It was a ray of Jupiter, like a sign from above, indicating that we should never part.” Before meeting Gala, the artist was only on the threshold of his own fame. This woman helped him cross the threshold and enjoy the sparkling halls of worldwide popularity. The appearance of Gala coincided with a break with the surrealist group. As a matter of fact, it was the Gala that took Salvador Dali away from the aesthetic control of Breton and his entire company. But this did not happen right away. “Soon you will be the way I want you to be,” she announced to him, and the artist believed her. “I blindly believed everything she predicted for me.” But Gala not only predicted, she selflessly and selflessly helped him, looked for rich sponsors, organized exhibitions, and sold his paintings. “We never gave up in the face of failure,” Dali noted. “We got out thanks to Gala’s strategic dexterity.” We didn't go anywhere. Gala sewed her own dresses, and I worked a hundred times harder than any mediocre artist.”

From a Parisian who found pleasure in the entertainment of bohemia, Gala turned into a nanny, secretary, manager of a genius artist, and then into the mistress of a huge empire, whose name is Dali. The empire was coming together piece by piece. When the paintings did not work, Gala forced Dali to do various crafts: develop models of hats, ashtrays, decorate shop windows, advertise certain products... One might say, she kept Dali under constant financial and creative pressure. And it is possible that this is exactly the treatment that was needed for a weak-willed and poorly organized person like Salvador Dali. Of course, this did not go unnoticed, and the press often presented Gala as the embodiment of evil, reproaching her for being cruel, greedy and immoral. According to Olano, Gala squandered money left and right and did it very cheerfully, but only when the Dali empire began to flourish and money flowed like a river from everywhere. Journalist Frank Whitford in the Sunday Times simply called Dali's muse a predator. He wrote in the newspaper in the summer of 1994: “The Gala-Dali couple to some extent resembled the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Helpless in everyday life, the extremely sensual artist was captivated by a tough, calculating and desperately upward predator, whom the surrealists dubbed Gala Plague. It was also said about her that her gaze penetrates the walls of bank safes. However, in order to find out the status of Dali’s account, she did not need X-ray abilities: the account was offended. She simply took the defenseless and undoubtedly gifted Dali and turned him into a multimillionaire and world-famous “star.” Even before their marriage in 1934, Gala managed to ensure that their house began to besieged by crowds of wealthy collectors who passionately wanted to acquire relics consecrated by the genius of Dali.”

Amanda Lear began her career in show business as a fashion model - she worked with Paco Rabanne and Yves Saint Laurent, and then became the muse of the elderly Salvador Dali, posing for him for his masterpieces. In addition, Amanda was the girlfriend of rock monster David Bowie for a whole year. An exciting start... Dali and Gala loved to emphasize the brilliance and significance of their public life with the help of photographs: this famous, beautiful, extravagant couple always found themselves in the center of attention of photographers and too often became the object of photo hunts. In 1934, the Dali couple went to the USA - it was an exceptionally correct move, dictated by Gala’s amazing intuition; she definitely felt that it was the Americans who would like and afford Dali’s talent. And she was not mistaken: sensational success awaited Salvador Dali in the United States - the country was gripped by “surrealist fever.” In honor of Dali, surrealist balls with masquerades were held, at which guests appeared in costumes, as if inspired by the artist’s imagination - extravagant, provocative and funny. The couple returned home rich and very famous: America took Dali's talent to the highest level - genius. A second trip to the USA in 1939 further strengthened the initial success. The rapid growth of Dali's popularity overseas was facilitated by two circumstances - his unsurpassed ability to create public scandals and a partial revision of artistic principles, which made the works of the Spanish surrealist more accessible to the general public. The couple lived in America throughout the war and the first post-war years. With the help of Dali, naturally, Gala organizes exhibitions, gives lectures, paints portraits of wealthy Americans, illustrates books, composes scripts, librettos and costumes for ballet and opera productions, designs windows of luxury stores on Fifth Avenue in New York and pavilions of international fairs, collaborates with Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney, tries his hand at photography and organizes surrealist balls. In short, it’s gushing with might and main!.. “All over the world,” writes Dali, “and especially in America, people are burning with desire to know what is the secret of the method with which I managed to achieve such successes. But this method really exists. And it is called the “paranoid-critical method”. It has been more than thirty years since I invented it and have been using it with constant success, although to this day I have not been able to understand what this method consists of. In general, it could be defined as the strictest logical systematization of the most delusional and insane phenomena and matters in order to give a tangible creative character to my most dangerous obsessions. This method only works if you own a gentle motor of divine origin, a certain living core, a certain Gala - and she is the only one in the whole world...” At the end of the 40s, the couple returned to Europe in triumph. Fame, money - everything is in abundance. Everything is fine, except for one thing: Gala is getting old. However, she does not give up and is still a model for numerous Dali paintings. He constantly painted her in the image of a mythical woman, a kind of “Atomic Leda” and even with the face of Christ. In the famous painting “The Last Supper” you can recognize the features of Gala. And all because the artist never tired of idolizing his muse. Gala, Gradiva, Galatea, my talisman, my treasure, my little gold, olive - these are only a small part of the names that the painter gave to his muse and wife. Pompous titles and sophisticatedly sensual nicknames formed part of the “surreality” in which the spouses lived. In one of the artist’s paintings, Christopher Columbus, having set foot on the shores of the New World, carries a banner with the image of Gala and the inscription: “I love Gala more than my mother, more than my father, more than Picasso and even more than money.” As for the mother, this is not a slip of the tongue. Salvador Dali, who lost his mother early and did not receive her love, subconsciously searched for his mother and found her ideal expression precisely in Gala, and she, in turn, found a son in him (she loved her daughter Cecile less, and it is no coincidence that she was raised by Paula’s grandmother Eluard). As Dali wrote in his diary: “Like a mother to a child suffering from lack of appetite, she patiently repeated: “Look, little Dali, what a rare thing I got.” Just try it, it’s liquid amber, and unburnt at that. They say that Vermeer himself wrote with it.”

Gala’s sister Lydia, who once visited the couple, noted that she had never seen a more tender and touching attitude of a woman towards a man in her life: “Gala fusses with Dali like a child, reads to him at night, makes him take some necessary pills, sorts him out his nightmares and with infinite patience dispels his suspiciousness. Dali threw a clock at another visitor - Gala rushes to him with sedative drops - God forbid, he will have a seizure.” Could a “woman - the embodiment of evil”, a “greedy Valkyrie”, as journalists called her, hold on like this? Salvador Dali's father and sister, who strictly professed all the canons of the Catholic faith, could never forgive him for his antics with the portrait of his mother and his marriage to Gala, so his real family became the Italian family of Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto, with whom Dali had a long-term friendship, their daughter Christina became Dali's goddaughter. Mara Albaretto: “He was extremely eccentric, extravagant. When asked why he depicted his beloved wife Gala with two chops on her back, he answered simply: “I love my wife and I love chops; I don’t understand why I can’t draw them together”...

Salvador Dali and Gala together organized their sensational “happenings,” erotic spectacles with a hint of scandal. There were more than enough people wishing to take part in them. The artist's fame attracted many women to him. Once they passed by indifferently, and then there was no end to them, this happens quite often with famous people. Ladies, with or without a name, sought dates with Dali. Often he agreed, but all these dates took place according to the artist’s script. Thus, the artist lovingly undressed one Danish lady, and then spent a long time decorating her with lobsters and other sea creatures. In the end it turned out beautiful. Dali was pleased and sweetly said goodbye to the woman. Whether she was satisfied is the question. The intimate life of the couple remained a secret forever. In all likelihood, there was no such concept as fidelity. For Gala it was an open marriage, and she was free to choose her lovers. “Not free, my dear, not free!” But this applies to her young and mature years. Later she had to pay herself. When Gala turned seventy in 1964. She dyed her hair, sometimes already wore a wig and was thinking about plastic surgery. But the older she got, the more she wanted love. She tried to seduce anyone who came her way. “Salvador doesn’t care, each of us has our own life,” she convinced her husband’s friends, dragging them into bed.

Her lover was the young singer Jeff Fenholt, one of the leading actors in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. They said that it was Gala who caused his break with his young wife, who had just given birth to his child. Gala took an active part in Jeff's fate, created conditions for him to work and even gave him a luxurious house on Long Island. This was her last love. Of course, love for Salvador Dali does not count. And yet Gala remains a mystery. In numerous interviews that she gave over half a century, she stubbornly did not talk about her relationship with Dali. Her ex-husband destroyed all her letters to Eluard, asking her to do the same with hers in order to “deprive curious descendants of a look into their intimate life.” True, Gala, according to the artist, left an autobiography, which she worked on for 4 years. Gala kept a diary in Russian. Where these priceless documents are now is unknown. Perhaps new finds and new discoveries await the artistic world. The medieval castle of Pubol (near Porta Lligat) became a manifestation of Dali's passionate love. Gala received such a gift at the age of 74, when their marital relationship became more complicated. Dali increasingly vacationed in the company of fashion model Amanda Lear. However, he tried not to move away from Gala, who wanted silence and monastic peace. Dali was able to visit her only with her written permission. Gala's last years were poisoned by illness and rapidly approaching senile infirmity. “The day of death,” she said, “will be the happiest day of my life.” It came on June 10, 1982. Gala lived to be 88 years old. Stormy and unique. “Dali intended to fulfill his wife’s last wish: to bury her in Pubol, located 80 kilometers from Port Lligat, in the castle that Dali had once given to his beloved. However, an ancient Spanish law, issued during the plague, prohibited the transport of a body without permission from the authorities. Dali, for the sake of Gala, goes to break the law. The deceased's naked body was wrapped in a blanket and placed in the back seat of the Cadillac. Driver Arturo takes the wheel. They are accompanied by a sister of mercy. They agreed that if the police stopped them, they would say that Gala died on the way to the hospital. Dali's famous Cadillac, witness to many happy journeys through France and Italy, was turned into a hearse. A little over an hour later he delivers the deceased to Pubol. Everything was already prepared there for the burial. A coffin with a transparent lid containing Gala’s body was buried in the crypt of the castle on June 11 at six o’clock in the evening in the presence of Dali himself...” 78-year-old Dali refused to attend the funeral. Salvador Dali survived the Gala by 7 years.

Series of messages “SALVADOR DALI / GALA / Surrealism”:
Part 1 - Salvador Dali. FIRST PART Part 2 - Salvador Dali's wife - GALA DALI. PART TWO Part 3 - AMANDA LEAR Part 4 - AMANDA LEAR Amanda Lear is the story of one life. Part 5 - SALVADOR DALI: MIDDLE AND OLDER YEARS...... PART THIRD. Part 6 - SALVADOR DALI: SHOCKING PHOTOS OF A FAMOUS ARTIST. CHAPTER FOUR Part 7 - SALVADOR DALI. FIFTH PART.

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Love and loyalty

In the late sixties, during the heyday of the hippies, the Dali couple treated young people who appeared in Port Lligat in the summer and even set up something like a commune there, surprisingly favorably. And some of them will be destined to become more than just acquaintances of this couple.

Passion for men much younger than her in age has always been inherent in Gala. And if it were not for the desire to rejuvenate herself by having an affair with a man who was younger than her, it is unlikely that their rapprochement with Salvador would have occurred. The rapprochement of an experienced woman, whom Paul Eluard, no less experienced in these matters, called the embodiment of love, the most sensual lover on Earth, and not even a man yet, Dali.

It was she who was able to fully open for the artist the world of love, carnal love and sublime love. But if for Dali, receiving pleasure in sex was not the main thing in their relationship - his feelings for his wife were primarily the feelings of an artist, extravagant and unlike anyone else, then Gala was just a woman, albeit an extraordinary one. For Dali, the main thing was simply the presence of Gala, the fact that she was next to him, he received indescribable pleasure, sketching her naked body, simply touching her. But his beloved needed not only the reverent feelings of Salvador, but also something more specific.

There is no doubt that Gala becomes a kind of mentor to Dali in terms of sex, she was able to awaken his sensuality. But despite his ingenuity, Salvador turned out to be, apparently, not such a capable student. And soon it was not enough for Gala. Her passion for new experiences began to overcome her nature.

However, for Dali, true love has always been platonic love. And even the appearance of a real woman of flesh and blood in his life did not change anything in his perception. He writes that sex itself, the sexual act, causes him wild disgust. And the only woman with whom he could do “this,” almost overpowering himself, was Gala. But even in his relationship with her, he was primarily interested in desires, and not in their embodiment. Dali's real pleasure came from various games of a distinctly erotic nature, the master of which, presumably, was his wife. But at the same time she wanted something much more carnal.

Many consider the wife of Salvador Dali to be a clear nymphomaniac, ready to drag into bed everyone who comes to hand. Rumors about her adventures circulated everywhere this woman appeared. Apparently, most of the rumors were just that, rumors, but, as you know, there is no smoke without fire.

Gala was one and a half years older than her first husband. The moment is characteristic, considering that when she met him (and not vice versa!) she was eighteen and he was seventeen. The age difference between this woman and her second husband Salvador Dali has increased significantly - now it is almost ten years. And the further, the more. Gala was attracted only to men who were much younger than her. When she was already fifty, she had affairs with thirty-year-old men old enough to be her sons. You can imagine what will happen when Gala celebrates her seventieth birthday!

One of the regular buyers of Dali’s paintings, a very young scion of the Morse family, Reynold, was extremely surprised when, during a purely business conversation, Gala suddenly began to show him unambiguous signs of attention. Trying to kindle his feelings, the subtle and insightful Gala showed the young man, who did not know what to do with himself, erotic drawings, for which he had to go up to her room with a huge double bed (Dali, naturally, was not in it - the artist did not have such a flattering opinion about love three of us, like his predecessor on the marital bed). Thanks to Gala’s efforts, their relationship very quickly took the form of light flirting, which could well have been followed by something much more significant. But at the level of flirting, then everything stopped - the bewildered young man did not show any desire to spend time in bed with this interesting, but ugly and, moreover, old woman. He left in horror and embarrassment - he couldn’t comprehend how this always cold companion of the artist could try to seduce a man who was more than twenty years younger than her.

And the fact that Reynold Morse managed to get out of Gala’s bonds safely was more than surprising. Considering at least what a strong woman she was, and with what frenzy she always achieved what she wanted to get. Her gaze alone had a colossal hypnotizing power. Gala was the embodiment in one person of a vampire woman and the very tenderness and sensuality. She knew how to be both elegant and wild at the same time, to satisfy both the whimsical desires of her soul and the most animal passions of her body.

Another young failed lover of Gala was Jimmy Ernst. This surname has already appeared on the pages of our book, and there is no smell of random coincidence here. When Gala appeared in Jimmy's father's life, he immediately abandoned his loving wife Louise along with their very little boy. And now this woman is seducing his son. Truly, who would have even thought...

Jimmy met the Dali couple in New York in the early forties, and described what will be discussed below in a book of his memoirs, published in 1986.

In terms of his appearance and character, Jimmy took after his father, who was the embodiment of cordiality and openness. And if Ernst Sr. at that time still attracted women (just in the mid-forties, he had a new passion, who became his fourth wife - the young artist Dorothea Tanning. He has completely different inclinations than his former lover, and each of his wives is at least ten years younger than her husband, or even twenty), then Jimmy is even more so. This young man had no ill feelings towards Gala, despite the fact that it was she who, having destroyed the Ernst family, actually deprived him of his father. Rather, he treated her, like her husband, with obvious interest.

And then one day he accidentally ended up visiting Dali’s New York room. It was then, on the very first day of their meeting, that Gala’s next intrigue unfolded, which, however, was not crowned with any success for her. When the young man thought that this woman “had her eye on him,” he thought that this simply couldn’t be true, because it couldn’t be. But then, literally the next day, he realized that he was not mistaken. Dali invited the young man to come to them the next day to go shopping together. But Gala came to their meeting place alone: Salvador, they say, is not in a good mood today and in general he does not feel well.

Jimmy found himself in a rather strange position. The woman whom he treated with a certain respect, as one should treat an older person, the woman who had inspired his respect just yesterday, suddenly began to behave like an innocently flirting girl. She rolls her eyes, jokes stupidly and finally coquettishly declares that it would be nice to go to some bar. All these advances remain completely unrequited. And this “turns on” Gala even more. During their dinner in a small Russian restaurant, she flirts with Jimmy so openly that he no longer has any doubts. But the young man is still distinctly cold, and this infuriates Gala. Passions flare up, and when the former object of his father's desire grabs Jimmy by the hand and in a voluptuous and demanding tone invites him to his room, the young man, whose patience has run out, abruptly breaks free and leaves. This was a real blow for Gala, who had already become accustomed to her own irresistibility. And having accidentally met Jimmy Ernst, she, according to him, in her hearts, called him “an animal.”

The above cases may indicate that satisfying her passions is becoming not so easy for Gala. Those two young men whom this woman of Balzac's age tried to seduce were not particularly impressed by her love magic. But it is likely that there were other similar cases when Gala managed to change Dali. They just didn't become public knowledge. This is understandable: if something had happened to Jimmy or Morse with Madame Dali, they would hardly have spoken openly about it.

After the couple returned to Europe, Gala often left Port Lligat without her husband, accompanied only by her faithful servant Arturo. While Dali worked tirelessly, she indulged in social entertainment. It is difficult to say whether she had affairs on the side at this time. In any case, none of them became public property.

It is unlikely that Dali treated his wife’s infidelities as leniently as her first husband. Although it is also possible that he simply did not know or did not want to know about them. Dali believed Gala in everything, and nothing could shake this faith. Caesar's wife is beyond suspicion.

As for himself, the question of whether Salvador cheated on his wife is practically resolved. And he himself often admits that Gala was his only woman. He confesses not only in his books and interviews, but also in conversations with his closest friends, to whom there was simply no reason to lie. In general, he often says that, even when he loves a specific person, he is still at the mercy of his erotic dreams. And these dreams were very confusing and even somewhat perverted. Thus, he considered the most acceptable role for himself to be that of an observer, one who does not show his activity. His fantasies were truly limitless, and many of them formed the basis for the images of his works.

Dali designated a sensual connection that has no physical continuation with the term “cledalism.” This word comes from the name Solange de Kleda, the heroine of his novel Secret Faces. The novel describes a love game devoid of any physical intimacy, which brought indescribable pleasure to its participants. Solange de Kleda and her lover give each other pleasure without even touching each other. And it was precisely this type of relationship with his beloved that was most acceptable for Dali.

To contents

Under the shadow of shame.

Gala became Dali's religion, his talisman, his love and curse.
In 1931, he dedicated his poem “Love and Memory” to her: ... Far from the image of my sister Gala Her eyes are like her anus Her knees are like her ears ... Her buttocks are like the finger of her hand The finger of her hand is like her voice Her voice is like her toe Her toe is like her armpit hair Her armpit hair is like her forehead Her forehead is like her thighs Her thighs are like her gums Her gums are like her hair Her hair is like her legs...

Dali and Gala got married on January 30, 1934. Eluard was not present at the ceremony - this would have been too much for the man who wrote: “I love you so much that I no longer know which of the two of us is not here...”

This couple had no children. When Reynolds Morse, a friend and collector of Dali's paintings, asked him why, the artist replied: it's scary to imagine what they might have been like. “One of Picasso’s sons is running around Paris half naked and half mad. If the genius Picasso has such a crazy son, imagine who would be born to me!” In fact, having undergone gynecological surgery, Gala could no longer become a mother. And Dali even liked that his wife was “sterile.”

Girlfriends, androgynes and lovers

In the fall of 1935, Dali and Gala made their first voyage to America, which greeted the author of The Great Masturbator, The Dark Game and The Persistence of Memory with delight. His name graced the front pages of newspapers. World fame and fortune were just around the corner...

By this time, Salvador’s first attempts to make peace with his father date back. Gradually their relationship improved, and in the end Dali Cusi even acknowledged the role of his wife’s witch in his son’s life: “Without Gala, he would have ended up under a Parisian bridge.”

But the artist never truly reconciled with his sister. And after in 1949 she published memoirs about the childhood of Salvador Dali, distorting, in his opinion, many facts and blaming surrealism and Gala for all family misfortunes, he forever erased Ana Maria from his heart. “This old lesbian”—Dali never called her anything else.

In America, where Dalí and Gala settled for eight years in 1940, Dalí came up with the idea of using his name to make money: perfumes, stockings, and ties with fragments of his paintings appeared. Avida Dollars (greedy for dollars) - this anagram from the name Dali was invented by the father of surrealism, Breton, and the artist really liked it. The endless replication of lips, liquid watches and “great masturbators” began...

Ten years later, Dali's wealth had grown significantly. Gala illegally smuggled suitcases of currency from America. On the advice of his manager, Peter Moore, Dali begins to sign blank sheets of paper with his name so that dealers can then print any fragments of his paintings on them. For each signature on a piece of paper, Dali received 10 dollars.

With the growth of her material well-being, Gala increasingly acquired a reputation as a whore. She treated Dali like a mother, without showing any maternal feelings towards her daughter.

In August 1962, Muse turned 68. She had plastic surgery and chased handsome young men with renewed energy, showering her favorites with money. It was said that “her boys were worth a fortune.” Sometimes lovers did not limit themselves to taking gifts from Gala. One of them, Eric Samon, had a romantic dinner with Gala in a restaurant, and at that time his accomplices tried to steal her car. However, Gala attracted young lovers not only with money: some were fascinated by her as a woman. Like William Roethlein, a 22-year-old drug addict hanging out on the streets of New York. Gala fed William, who looked very much like the young Dali, dressed him, weaned him off drugs and brought him to Verona, where she usually forced her lovers to swear eternal love. This time the love really was long and passionate. Rothlein sent Gala telegrams from America: “I don’t understand anything, I love you, I don’t do drugs, I don’t drink, I’m lost, I love you, I’m going crazy, please telegraph me or call me immediately, I need you, I love you, I need you, don’t leave me.” .

At some point, Dali was even sure that Gala would go to William. Usually, when she left him with another lover, Dali was glad to have a week of freedom, but then he began to get bored. This time everything seemed more serious. The artist wrote a letter to his Galochka, begging him not to leave him. But Gala's passion for William dried up when he failed an acting test with Fellini. Some time later, Rothlein died of a drug overdose.

Gala, like a little girl, was delighted with Dali’s gift - an ancient castle in the town of Pubol near Port Lligat. Dali liked to boast that he could visit this love nest only with her written invitation.

The last great love in Gala’s life was Jeff Fenholt, who played the leading role in the Broadway musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” For him, a large piano was installed in the living room of the castle. Gala bought Jeff a house for $1.25 million and gave him Dali paintings. Subsequently, Fenholt became a televangelist in California and denied that there was sex in his relationship with Gala. How could he sleep with an old woman who suffered from skin cancer?

When Gala once again retired to the castle with a young admirer, Dali called one of his friends: Nanita Kalashnikoff or Amanda Lear, who came to stay at his house for a week or two.

Dali met Nanita Kalashnikoff, a Spanish woman married to a Russian, at a charity ball in New York. She was the daughter of a writer, the author of semi-pornographic novels that Salvador secretly read as a child. At first Dali seemed crazy to her, but after that they became very good friends. Dali was almost ready to fall in love with Nanita. Their relationship was not sexual, but there was certainly some eroticism in it.

Another close friend of Dali, the famous singer Amanda Lear, was the living embodiment of his ideal - a hermaphrodite. Dali met Amanda in the Parisian nightclub Carousel. The future star performed there under the name Peki d'Oslo, but her (that is, his) real name was Alan Tap. Dali enjoyed revealing Amanda's secret to people. He showed her photos to friends and asked: “Do you like it? But she’s a man!”

But it wasn’t just her transsexuality that attracted Dali to Amanda. She was beautiful, smart, insightful, spoke several languages, was interested in art and asked questions. Dali was happy with the role of a teacher and the fact that he could appear with Amanda in public, as if with a young lover.

At first, Gala’s friend Dali was infuriated. In dozens of photographs, the rival's face is cropped out. However, she accepted Amanda's existence because it did not threaten the marriage and she could safely retire to Pubol with her young men.

Last days

In the late 70s, Dali's health deteriorated sharply. At 73, he felt much worse than Gala. The doctor who examined the artist discovered that Dali was drug dependent on antidepressants that Gala had fed him with. The combination of the sedative Valium and the stimulant amphetamine caused irreparable damage to his nervous system.

Dali's neuroses prevented Galia from leading a full-blooded life. It is believed that she tried to poison her husband.

Weak and sick, Dali and Gala could no longer go to America or Paris for the winter, as usual. The damp weather and the Tramontana aggravated the melancholy...

They quarreled constantly. During one of the scandals over Fenholt, Dali, in a rage, pulled his wife off the bed, and she broke two ribs. Another time she fell down the stairs - perhaps not without the help of Dali.

In February 1982, Gala underwent surgery to remove her gallbladder. By summer, she no longer tried to get out of bed. Cecile Eluard, having learned from the newspapers that her mother was dying, came to Port Lligat. But neither Dali nor Gala wanted to see her.

The artist’s muse died on June 10, 1982. Gala’s body was embalmed by the best Barcelona specialists: Dali wanted it to remain indestructible for as long as possible. She was buried in her favorite red Dior dress.

Gala's death was a great grief for Dali - and at the same time liberation.

And those who breathed a sigh of relief were the Spanish authorities: if Gala had died later than Dali, all his paintings would probably have sailed overseas. She never fell in love with dear Dali Spain.

After Gala's death, Dali decided not to return to Port Lligat. Its manager could now take away whatever he wanted with impunity. Priceless items from Dali's house can still be found on the black market.

The artist's life became increasingly gloomy. He wanted to, but could not write - his right hand was shaking terribly. Nurse Elda Ferrer recalls: he had difficulty speaking, cried constantly and made animal sounds for hours. In his hallucinations, Dali imagined himself as a snail. “For two years I heard only one intelligible phrase: my friend Lorca.”

Caring for Dali was a real nightmare. He threw plates of food at the nurses, spat, and scratched.

At night Dali was afraid to sleep. A wire with a bell was stretched to his bed, which he frantically rang when he wanted to call a nurse. This usually happened several times a night. To make their lives a little easier, the staff replaced the bell with a light bulb.

On the night of August 31, 1984, a short circuit occurred in the wiring. The bed began to smolder. Dali tried to call for help, but no one heard. Only after some time did the nurse notice the smoke. Dali was found with difficulty in the smoke-filled bedroom: he was lying unconscious next to the bed.

Dali was put in the car, and the same nurse on duty took him away from the fire. “Murderer, bitch, criminal!” - Dali shouted at her.

Dali spent the last years of his life under the roof of his Theater-Museum in Figueres - in the Galatea Tower. He died on January 23, 1989, holding the hand of his faithful servant Arturo Caminada, who worked for the artist for almost 40 years and considered him and Gala his family.

In his will, Dali did not leave a single peseta to Arturo. Caminada couldn't believe it. He died less than two years later and never gave an interview, although he knew more about the private life of the genius than anyone else. Rumor attributed his death to a "broken heart."

Dali's last wish was not fulfilled. The artist wanted to be buried with his face covered so that no one would see him disfigured by old age and illness. But during the funeral, 15 thousand people looked at him...

Ana Maria was not among them. She celebrated Mass in memory of her brother, and a year later she died of breast cancer, refusing to see a doctor until the last moment.

As one family friend said, “They both died of Dali syndrome. Both were a little paranoid, there was fear in their souls.”

Did Dali, lying in his tower, covered in pipes, remember his father’s curse: that he would die alone, in poverty, without friends and family? Caminada said bitterly: “Senor Dali never loved anyone.” A life lived under the sign of shame has caused pain to many people. But who has the right to judge his actions?

Great egoists are also capable of love. Dali's last words were: “I want to go home.” What house did he remember? A hotel room near Marseille, which he and Gala did not leave for two months, indulging in love? The attic in Figueres's father's house, where young Ana Maria posed for him? The house where he was born, where there were flowers everywhere and his mother’s favorite canaries lived in cages? Or maybe the terrace of a summer house in Cadaques: under the shade of eucalyptus trees, Ana Maria laughs at Lorca’s jokes and smiles, looking at their fun, father...

J. Gibson “The Life of Salvador Dali, Full of Shame”

To contents

Why Salvador Dali didn’t have children: Picasso didn’t succeed, and even more so with me

Salvador Dali became one of the key figures of the 20th century and was known as the world's best surrealist artist.

It would be logical to assume that if he had children, they would continue their father’s incredible work or surprise the world with other incredible works and discoveries. However, Dali had a different opinion on this matter.

The artist has repeatedly publicly stated his fundamental reluctance to ever have children. But why? Ian Gibson, in his book “Salvador Dali’s Life of Shame,” gives the artist’s answer to this question.

If Picasso’s son turned out to be such an eccentric, then you can imagine what my children would have turned out like.

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The surrealist was sure that he would pass on bad heredity to his children.

Dali also expressed the following opinion more than once:

Great geniuses always produce mediocre children, and I do not want to be a proof of this rule. I want to leave only myself as a legacy.

Dali's favorite woman and muse was Elena Dyakonova, Gala. After their first meeting, Dali and Gala never parted again; their relationship lasted for 53 years.

Gibson, as the most likely version of the absence of joint children between Elena Dyakonova and Salvador Dali, suggests that the artist’s muse considers women’s problems, allegedly Gala at one time had a gynecological operation, as a result of which the woman remained forever infertile.

Gala was 10 years older than Salvador; when they met, she was already 35, with a marriage and a child behind her – daughter Cecile.

Another, and quite popular, version of Dali’s childlessness is his reluctance, fear of sexual contact with women, or simply impotence.

Spanish journalist Antonio D. Orlano is convinced that Salvador Dali was a voyeur - in his opinion, the notorious artist sublimated his sexual fervor, splashing out emotions that were not naturally realized on canvas.

The married couple never hid the fact that Dali allowed his muse-wife to have lovers.

When the eccentric artist himself preferred ladies as art objects for installations or as models for creating paintings and graphic works.

By the way, Dali, due to the absence of heirs, bequeathed about 300 million euros to Spain, a quarter of this amount would have gone to the artist’s direct descendant, if he had existed.

Let us remember that Dali’s life and worldview are shrouded in an invisible veil of secrecy - although he led a public life.

As the Znayu portal reported, Federico Garcia Lorca fell in love with the Catalan artist Salvador Dali, who was then beginning his rapid career.

Znayu also wrote amazing facts from the life of the incredible Salvador Dali.