One of a Kind Gala - Muse of Salvador Dali. Visit of the Gala Castle in Spain.
This story is a continuation of my post about our visit of Salvador Dali museum in Fegueres Unusual Spain: Museum of a Mad Genius Salvador Dali.
GalA (stress on the last syllable) - a muse, friend, wife of Salvadar Dali. Gala means holiday, triumph. Her real name is Elena Dyakonova and originally she is from Russia. Her contemporaries said she was not beautiful but there was something in her that attracted all men.
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Women didn't like her but men admired her. She loved them too and sometimes she loved several at the same time. She had big power over men. And Gala had an intuition for talent and geniuses. She made her first husband Paul Eluard a famous poet. Another her lover was a German artist Max Ernst. They had a love triangle that was not shocking for creative people at that time.
When she met Salvador Dali, she was 36 and 11 years older than him. She was a strong, experienced woman and he was a shy virgin. Gala became everything to him. She inspired him.
I have not found confirmation in the internet but when we visited Gala Castle I heard the story that once she had locked him at the basement until he had got those crazy ideas for his paintings, sculptures and other works. Gala was also giving him ideas for his extravagant jinks. They found each other, they became two parts of one brain. Gala had a lot of rich and powerful friends that helped her to sell his works. They became very rich and when the interest started to decrease she offered to make design things. Salvador told he was nothing without her. He painted her in different characters and forms.
After 70 years old she started to get older and older. Many plastic surgeries, many young lovers. She asked Salvador to buy her a castle where Salvador was allowed to come only with her invitation. He didn't mind her lovers, at least he told that. There is even an installation in his museum with the boat with blue condoms symbolizing her young lovers.
All photos below are mine.
He bought her a castle and of course everything was made in their style with ilusions and extravagant design.
One of the doors is illusion.
When she prohibited him to visit her in the castle, he told that his Gala stayed the same, inaccessible. After she died, he stopped painting, didn't eat for a long time, screamed. Madness captured him completely. Nobody could understand his indistinct muttering.He lived another 7 years without his Gala. But it was not a holiday anymore. It was a slow dying.
It is difficult to say who was crazier Gala or Salvador Dali and without any doubts she was an extraordinary, magnificent and femme fatale.
Sources:
http://www.salvador-dali.org/dali/en_bio-gala/
http://vision7.ru/publ/iskusstvo/gala_muza_velikogo_genija/12-1-0-3366
http://www.salvador-dali.org/dali/en_bio-gala/
I liked very much.
Thank you so much
Oh wow, I didn't know any of this about Dali. Thank you!
Thank you and my pleasure)))
Incredible post ! I like it a lot!Great work!
Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!