Gala Dalí
Gala Dalí | |
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Port Lligat, Spain | |
Resting place | Castle of Púbol, Girona, Spain |
Spouses | |
Children | 1 |
Gala Dalí (born Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, Елена Ивановна Дьяконова; 7 September [O.S. 26 August] 1894 – 10 June 1982), usually known simply as Gala, was the wife of poet Paul Éluard and later of artist Salvador Dalí, who were both prominent in surrealism. She also inspired many other writers and artists.
Early years
Gala was born as Elena Ivanovna Diakonova[1] (Russian: Елена Ивановна Дьяконова) in Kazan, Russian Empire, to a family of intellectuals. Among her childhood friends was the poet Marina Tsvetaeva. She began working as a schoolteacher in 1915, at which time she was living in Moscow.
Marriage to Éluard
In 1912, she was sent to a sanatorium at Clavadel, near Davos in Switzerland for the treatment of tuberculosis. She met Paul Éluard while in Switzerland and fell in love with him. They were both seventeen. In 1916, during World War I, she traveled from Russia to Paris to reunite with him; they were married one year later. They had one child, daughter Cécile (11 May 1918 — 10 August 2016). Gala detested motherhood, mistreating and ignoring her child.[2]
With Éluard, Gala became involved in the Surrealist movement. She was an inspiration for many artists including Éluard, Louis Aragon, Max Ernst, and André Breton. Breton later despised her, claiming she was a destructive influence on the artists she befriended.[3] She, Éluard, and Ernst spent three years in a ménage à trois,[4] from 1924 to 1927. In early August 1929, Éluard and Gala visited a young Surrealist painter in Spain, the emerging Salvador Dalí. An affair quickly developed between Gala and Dalí, who was about 10 years younger than she. Nevertheless, even after the breakup of their marriage, Éluard and Gala continued to be close.[5]
Marriage to Dalí
After living together since 1929, Dalí and Gala married in a civil ceremony in 1934, and remarried in a
In the early 1930s, Dalí started to sign his paintings with his and her name as "(i)t is mostly with your blood, Gala, that I paint my pictures".[2] He stated that Gala acted as his agent, and aided in redirecting his focus. Gala had a strong libido and, throughout her marriage with Dalí, had numerous other sexual partners, including her former husband Paul Éluard. Dalí encouraged her, since he was a practitioner of candaulism. She had a fondness for young artists, and in her old age she often gave expensive gifts to those who associated with her.[2]
In 1968, Dalí bought Gala the Castle of Púbol, Girona, where she would spend time every summer from 1971 to 1980. He also agreed not to visit there without getting advance permission from her in writing.[8]
Death
Gala died in
Gala as model
Gala is a frequent model in Dalí's work, often in religious roles such as the
Portrait of Galarina
In Portrait of Galarina (1940–1945), Gala's face is shown severe and confrontational, her bared breast meant to depict bread, and the snake on the arm a gift of Dalí's sponsor Edward James.[2]
References
- Russian Orthodox and she was the daughter of a high-ranking officer of the Russian administration. (Source: Article "Gala Dalí: los secretos de una musa" by J.J. Navarro Arisa, El País Semanal, Madrid, Spain, 14 August 1994. See also Gala Dalí's biography Archived 26 June 2012 at the Wayback Machinein the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí web page.)
- ^ ISBN 0-06-019672-6.
- ^ Pound, Cath. "Gala Dalí: Monster, muse – or misrepresented?". BBC Culture. BBC. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
- ^ "Ghost Ships", McNab, Yale Univ Press; also New York Times article of 3 April 2005, by Annette Grant on the occasion of the Ernst retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum.
- ^ Eluard, P. (1984). Lettres a Gala. Gallimard. p. 182.
- ISBN 978-2-35035-189-6
- ^ a b Picardie, Justine (20 May 2007). "Salvador's siren". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 September 2009.[dead link]
- ^ "Gala Biography". Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 June 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
- ^ "Gala Dalí". Biography. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- ^ "The Kingdom". Weinberger Fine Art. Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- ^ Solly, Meilan. "Why Gala Dalí—Muse, Model and Artist—Was More Than Just Salvador's Wife". Smithsonian. Retrieved 14 March 2019.