Gala and Dali

Helena (“Gala”) Diankonova and Salvador Dali (click photo for larger image)
(Left) Salvador Dalí. Portrait of Gala. 1935. Oil on wood, 12 3/4 x 10 1/2" (32.4 x 26.7 cm). Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. © 2005 Salvador Dalí, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; (Right) Salvador Dalí. Salvador Dalí. Portrait of Gala with Rhinocerotic Symptoms - 1954. Oil on canvas, 39 x 31.5 cm (approx. 15.4 x 12.4 in) Private collection (click photo for larger image)Russian-born Helena Diankonova met surrealist master Salvador Dali (1904-1989) in 1929. Ten years his senior, “Gala” was then married to Paul Éluard--a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. But an affair sparked and the two eventually wed in 1943. Gala was far more than a muse for her husband. She was also the quirky artist’s business manager--and was instrumental in his financial success. Gala was the subject of several of Dali’s paintings. Dali and Gala would often shock people by their behaviors—such as showing up at parties wearing clear plastic—wholly transparent—clothing. Dali’s colleagues didn’t like Gala (nor did his family). His fellow artists found her to be cold—and believed she was turning Dali into a caricature—and undermining the integrity of the Surrealist movement. But Dali always insisted that he would have nothing had it not been for Gala.


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