Gala pour Dali: Biographie d'un couple

GALA FOR DALI ? biography of a couple By Sophie Delassein Gala pour Dali- biographie d?un couple Early upon their arrival in Cadaques, a small Spanish seaport, Dali quickly sees in Gala (the poet Paul Eluard's wife) the woman of his dreams and he falls passionately in love. Gala is fascinated by this young, talented, shy yet outrageous painter who teeters on the edge of schizophrenia. She recognizes his enormous creative potential and in a few hours decides to leave her husband for Dali. Dali's family however deeply disproves of Gala, a Russian immigrant who abandoned husband and child and Dali is forced to leave home with no ressources. Gala takes charge of the painter's destiny and becomes his intellectual, sexual and artistic inspiration. As the years go by, she expertly handles her new husband's affairs, comforts him after his break up with Breton, holds his hand both figuratively and physically during his moments of doubt, never ceasing to encourage his creativity. The couple moves to the USA in the forties where Dali's paintings are greatly appreciated and become a resounding commercial success. But Gala is beginning to drift away from her husband. She cheats on him and despairs with the idea of growing old. She is after all nine years older than he. From inspiration she turns into mother and jailer, to the point of, it has been said, locking her husband up to honour orders for paintings. Gala dies on June 10 1982 in the Pubol chateau, a gift from Dali to his wife. Gali himself dies in January 1989. They were to have been buried side by side for eternity in the crypt of the Pubol chateau but Dali was buried instead in Figueras, near his museum and his life's work. Sophie Delassain is an art critic living in Paris. Among other works she has written biographies of Barbara (1998) and Françoise Sagan (2001). Biography 220 Pages January