Gala Dali
Behind every great man, is an even greater woman, and this sentiment couldn’t be more true than in the case of Salvador Dali. Hidden in the shadows of Dali’s massive legacy, is the woman who can be credited with making Dali a household name and one of the strongest forces of nature to ever walk this earth.
Listen to our two part episode on Gala Dali, Salvador Dali’s wife for over 50 years, who not only inspired Dali’s greatest works but managed Dali’s entire career, brokering his biggest deals and elevating him from an unknown and impoverished young artist to celebrity status.
And it was not just Dali that Gala left an indelible impact on. Before Gala even met Dali, she had made waves within the Surrealist movement. She was married to the Surrealist poet Paul Eluard, had a heated love affair with painter Max Ernst, and enjoyed a short romance with the Italian Surealist Giorgio de Chirico.
This episode is produced by Kula Production Company.
Listen to ArtMuse’s two part episode on Gala Dali
REFERENCES
Éluard, Paul, et al. Letters to Gala. Paragon House, 1989.
McGirk, Tim. Wicked Lady: Salvador Dalí’s Muse. Headline Book Pub., 1990.
Prose, Francine. The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired. Union Books, 2013.
FURTHER REFERENCES
Millington, Ruth. Muse: Uncovering the Hidden Figures behind Art History’s Masterpieces. Pegasus Books, 2022.
IMAGES
Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, oil on canvas 1931.
Gala and Eluard at 17 years old at Clavadel Santitorium.
Image Credit: McGirk, Tim. Wicked Lady: Salvador Dalí’s Muse.
Max Ernst, Rendezvous of Friends, oil on canvas, 1922.
Gala and Paul Eluard with their daughter, Cecile.
Salvador Dalí and Gala in Port Lligat, c.1930, Dalí Theatre-Museum, Figueres, Spain.
Paul Eluard and Nusch, photo taken by Lee Miller.
Gala and Dali’s home in Port Lligat today.
Salvador and Gala Dalí working on the “Dream of Venus” pavilion, 1939.
Image Credit: Eric Schaal.
Salvador Dali, Portrait of Gala with Two Lamb Chops Balanced on Her Shoulder, oil on canvas, 1933.
Salvador Dali, Portrait of Gala, oil on wood, 1935.
Image Credit: MoMA
Brassai, Dalí and Gala in their Paris studio, Fourteenth Arondissement, Paris, Gelatin silver print on double weight paper, 1933.
Gala wearing the shoe-hat designed for her by Elsa Schiaparelli.
Dali on cover of TIME Magazine, December 14, 1936.
Gala in front of her car, circa 1941.
Salvador Dali, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second before Waking, oil on panel, 1944.
Raphael, La Fornarina, oil on panel, 1518-1519.
Salvador Dali, La Galarina, oil on canvas, 1945.
Salvador Dali, The Madonna of Port Lligat, oil on canvas, 1949.
Gala and Dali in 1960.
Young Jimmy Ernst
Image Credit: Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Salvador Dali with William Rothlein in 1957.
Jeff Fenholt as Jesus Christ Superstar.
Exterior of Pubol Castle.
Interior shot of Pubol Castle.
Gala and Dali in late age.
Gala Dali’s crypt at Pubol Castle.
