Gala Dalí
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Gala Dalí, (September 7, 1894 – 10 June, 1982), usually known simply as Gala, was the wife of first Paul Éluard, then Salvador Dalí, and a muse for them and many other writers and artists.
Marriage to Dalí
After living together since 1929, Dalí and Gala married in a civil ceremony in 1934, and remarried in a Catholic ceremony in 1958 in Montrejic. They needed to receive a special dispensation by the Pope because Gala had been previously married to Éluard. Because of his phobia of female genitalia, Dalí was said to be a virgin when they met at Costa Brava in 1929. The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired. Around that time she was found to have uterine fibroids, for which she underwent a hysterectomy in 1936. She was a muse for Dalí, and said that she was the one who saved him from madness and an early death.
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" He stated that Gala acted as his agent, and aided in redirecting his focus. According to most accounts, Gala had a strong sex drive and throughout her life had numerous extramarital affairs (among them with her former husband Paul Éluard), which Dalí encouraged, 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.
In her late seventies, Gala had a relationship with rock singer Jeff Fenholt She lavished him with gifts, including Dalí's paintings and a million dollar home on Long Island.Template:Citation needed Fenholt later became a televangelist.
She died in Port Lligat in the early morning of June 10, 1982 and was buried in the Castle of Púbol in Girona which Dalí had bought for her.
