Incredible love story: Salvador Dali and Gala. Gala: a slutty Russian in the fate of Salvador Dali
I dedicate this book to my genius,
my victorious Gala Gradiva,
my Helen of Troy,
my Saint Helena,
my brilliant, like the surface of the sea,
Gala Galatea Serene.
— Salvador Dali, Introduction to Autobiography
Salvador Dali appeared in society, wallowing in honey, and then in feathers. He deliberately spilled coffee on the exquisite outfits of the neighbors at the table and stated in his defense that he had eaten broken glass. Gave interviews, sitting naked in the bath, elegantly waving his cane. But something seemed to be missing from this stylishly mixed dramaturgy. And it was at the moment of realizing this insufficiency that she appeared in Dali's life.
Gala and Dali's wedding
By the time he met Gala Dali was 25 years old, and he was still a 100% virgin. What an irony of fate: the woman of his life turned out to be an unprincipled nymphomaniac, agreeing to anything, just to get more money and sex. Did she find the ideal proportions of what she wanted in the Spanish genius?
She was born in Kazan, on the Volga. Then her name was still Elena Ivanovna Dyakonova. At the age of 17, doctors diagnosed her with tuberculosis and sent her to Switzerland for treatment. There, in a sanatorium, the girl meets Paul Eluard, then still a novice French poet, and in February 1917 she was already standing in front of the altar in wedding dress. Then little Lenochka died and instead of her, great Gala. She herself called herself Galina or Gala, and Eluard gave the name a greater touch of France, emphasizing the last syllable. In the early 1920s, with the tacit consent of her husband, she had an affair with the German sculptor Max Ernst. For a while, Eluard, Ernst and Gala share the bed for three. Often, Eluard shoots his wife naked, and then shows the photos to all his friends, including Dali himself. Gala is delighted with the rapture with which men devour her forms, forever captured by the camera lens. She especially likes the admiration that she causes in El Salvador. And this admiration is mutual. And in 1932, three years after they met, Gala married Dali. But crazy love did not moderate the sexual appetites of an insatiable lady.
. When Salvador Dali was asked how she painted the picture “Gala with two lamb ribs balancing on her shoulder,” he replied: I love Gala and I love ribs, but here they are together at once. Despite her exorbitant love of sex, she was nevertheless one of those women whom the bohemian world of Paris took seriously and even listened to her opinion. Yes, she knew exactly what she wanted. She was not interested in political intrigues, philosophical disputes and other "public garbage". All that agitated her blood was a passionate desire for pleasure for all five senses, a thirst for companionship with geniuses and money, money, money. She judged people only by the efficiency of the "exhaust" they may or may not produce in real world, instantly eliminating from itself all the mediocre and the poor. At the same time, as Dali admitted, Gala had the ability to incomprehensibly kindle Creative skills talented people.
"Autumn Cannibalism" (1936) Behind every great man is great woman, and for Dali this Russian turned out to be such. Far from being a beauty, but her appearance, as it seemed to Salvador, surprisingly coincided with the image of a little girl who appeared to a genius in a dream and who over the years took shape in the ideal of an elegant muse invented by him. Dali said that Gala pulled him into the pools of her eyes, where he, in fact, was born a second time.
Inspired by his muse, in 1936 Dali painted one of the most famous paintings - "Autumn Cannibalism". On the canvas, a man and a woman are guessed, who absorb each other, penetrate, becoming one. Is this not an allegory for the relationship between the artist and his muse?
It seemed that everything that Dali's hand touched received a pass to the world of art, and with a six-figure price tag. And most of all this applies to his wife, Galya. He draws her constantly, elevates her to the rank of Madonna. Thanks to Dali, she is already becoming almost the most expensive model of the century, and her body is no less famous than the body of Venus de Milo herself.
Dali's attachment to his muse could be called almost pathological. The artist could not part with her even for a day, and when a brief separation did come, he simply could not create. Indeed, how to bring something new into this world if there is no muse in it?
And Gala celebrated its 60th anniversary. And as if resisting nature, her body begins to desire even more love. At the request of his muse, Dali buys her a “castle-temple” filled with dozens of the most different men very different orientations.
Gala took my hand and suddenly said: “Thank you again for everything. I accept Pubol Castle, but on one condition: you will not appear here without my written invitation. This condition flattered my masochistic inclinations and made me completely delighted. Gala has turned into an impregnable fortress, which it has always been. Close intimacy and, especially, familiarity can extinguish any passion. Restraint of feelings and distance, as shown by the neurotic ritual of chivalrous love, intensify passion.
- Salvador Dali
Every day, men staged amazing spectacles for Gala, constantly awakening to life her desires, which did not even think to fade away. Dali allowed her to have as many lovers as she wanted, and she, in turn, bought them houses and cars. However, the artist's aging was also brightened up by young favorites, from whom he did not need anything other than their beauty and youth. He pretended to be delighted with more and more mistresses, but in fact there was only one woman in his life. "Demoness of my genius" - that's what the master called her.
The shameful 80s are already ringing on the clock of the 20th century, the “wing-like muse” of Salvador Dali is aging more and more, and there is no longer the strength to brush it off. But Dali maniacally repeats to everyone that his Gala is becoming more and more beautiful over the years. However, death cannot be deceived, she does not care about feelings. And this terrible date is June 10, 1982.
The Lord ruthlessly unpacked my skull and removed one hemisphere, plunging me into total confusion.
Gala bequeathed to bury herself in Pubol, and in order to fulfill the last wish of his muse, Dali decided to transport the body of his beloved on his own so as not to attract the attention of the ubiquitous paparazzi. The solution was found, and it turned out to be very in the spirit of the artist. Dali ordered Gala to wear the best outfit, put the corpse in the back seat of the Cadillac and drove to the castle. There, the body was embalmed, dressed in a scarlet Dior dress and buried in the crypt of the castle, like Snow White, in a coffin with a transparent lid. Contemporaries will write that a widower standing over the body of his beloved will look at her without blinking, and repeat the same thing under his breath:
Look, I'm not crying. I'm not crying. I'm not crying!
They will note later that from that moment on, the eyes of a genius will incessantly water. But perhaps this is one of the beautiful legends that people love to invent so much?
It's no secret that without Gala there would be no Salvador Dali. They were more than husband and wife, more than an artist and a model. They are two hemispheres of the same brain, as the French poet André Breton once put it. What captivated the genius of this Russian girl? And wasn't she stranger than her husband?
Gala Dali. The most scandalous muse of the twentieth century
Close-set, small, but burning, like two coals, dark eyes, tightly clenched red lips in a light smile of Mona Lisa, a dashingly raised thin eyebrow, impeccable style, completed by exquisite dresses from Chanel or Dior.
“I will shine like a cocotte, smell of perfume and always have well-groomed hands with manicured nails,” Gala wrote in her diary after moving from Moscow to Paris.
Women did not like Gala (although this was the least of her worries, she did not need girlfriends), but men idolized her. She also loved them (sometimes several men at the same time) with her special love, generously giving them her energy and inspiration.
Brilliant Gala
Gala Dali was born in Kazan in 1894 in Kazan and at birth received the name Elena Ivanovna Dyakonova. After the death of an official father in 1905, Elena's family moved to Moscow, where her mother remarried lawyer Dimitri Gomberg. So Elena gets a new loving dad and a new patronymic. The boundless love and generosity of her stepfather taught Lenochka to appreciate and pamper herself, which is extremely important for a girl. Perhaps it was this fact that formed in her the understanding that men should idolize her. Without this understanding, there probably would not have been either Gala Dali, or Salvador Dali, or Paul Eluard.
In 1912, an unpleasant but fateful turn happened in the life of young Elena - she fell ill with consumption, and her father sent her to an expensive sanatorium in the Swiss Alps for treatment. There she met Eugene Emile Paul Grendel, who nicknamed her "Gala", which in French meant "holiday, fun". Gala inspired the 17-year-old boy to write poetry, she also came up with the pseudonym Paul Eluard, under which he gained worldwide fame.
Gala and Paul Eluard
Gala Dali. Gala - created to raise not children, but geniuses
In 1917, Gala moved to her beloved Paul in Paris, where they got married, a year later they had a daughter, Cecile, who no longer appears in her mother's biography, because Gala was more willing to play the role of a mother for her talented, vulnerable husbands than for a blood offspring.
Sometimes in her care there were several geniuses at the same time. In 1921, Gala and Paul paid a visit to the German surrealist painter Max Ernst. Gala poses for him, they become lovers. A year later, Max moves to live with the Eluards. Such “families of three” in a bohemian environment did not surprise anyone at that time. Let's remember the famous love triangle"Mayakovsky - Lilya Brik - Osip Brik".
Max Ernst, Gala, Paul Eluard
The year 1929 changed the course of the history of surrealism as such - the Elyuars visit the young Spanish artist Salvador Dali in his village of Cadaques in Spain.
“Her body was tender, like that of a child. The line of the shoulders was almost perfectly rounded, and the muscles of the waist, outwardly fragile, were athletically tense, like those of a teenager. But the curve of the lower back was truly feminine. The graceful combination of a slender, energetic torso, aspen waist and tender hips made her even more desirable, ”said Salvador Gala at the time of their first meeting.
When Salvador met his friend's wife, he was 25, she is 10 years older, experienced and strong, he, according to biographers, is a shy but ardent virgin - an unplowed field for the activities of the Gala Mother and the Gala Muse. The lawful husband was almost immediately forgotten, he was already something accomplished for her, a stage passed, “well done”, so to speak.
Officially, they registered their marriage only in 1934, after the death of Eluard. They lived together for about 50 years. She was his only model, his god, his support, inexhaustible source inspiration. She directed his crazy antics in the right direction and found ideas for new and new tricks. Next to her, Salvador worked productively, not thinking about realities. Gala dealt exclusively with the financial issues of their existence.
Thanks to her irresistibility, she quickly won friends in wealthy circles and persuaded them to buy her husband's work, sometimes for fabulous sums, even in advance. Gala knew how to convince others that Salvador's works were brilliant and flawless. At the prompting of his wife, Salvador illustrated films, designed extravagant outfits and jewelry, as well as scenery for ballets, was engaged in interior design and film direction. Money flowed into the Dali family like a river - Salvador could calmly create, and Gala could shine brighter and brighter, as she had dreamed of in her youth.
Gala Dali. The mistress who slept with everyone but her husband
But as spouses, Gala and Salvador were a rather extraordinary couple, if not “abnormal” by generally accepted standards. Yes, they had a strange hobby - to marry in each new country they are visiting. In addition, on the one hand, Salvador Dali showed no interest in other women at all, claiming that he "entirely belongs to Gala" (and also, obviously, sublimating into painting). Moreover, in The Diary of a Genius, he recalls that from childhood, struck by the disgusting pictures of sick genitals, he began to associate sex with decay and decay. Gala was not going to sacrifice her love of love in the name of marriage. She had many lovers. She even once complained that her anatomy does not allow her to make love with five men at the same time.
“I allow Gala to have as many lovers as she wants. I even encourage her, because it excites me, ”said Salvador
Gala Dali. Eternal girl, afraid of old age
Gala, like Salvador, mostly did not try to grow up. Many threw her eccentricity, excess eccentricity and indecent, crazy antics. Either he will appear in high society with a raw cutlet on his head (according to the sketch of her husband), then he will arrange a sexual happening together with Salvador. There was absolutely no sacrifice for anyone in her. She did not take care of her daughter, and what she did for her husband brought dividends to herself.
But the inexorable old age undermined the strength of the eternal girl, who was used to shining and conquering. at the age of 75, she decided to live separately from her husband, and he gave her his own castle of Pubol in the province of Girona, where he himself could only appear at the written invitation of his wife. Instead of herself next to El Salvador, she left the young fashion model Amanda Lear - a genius could watch her for hours, admiring her young body. Meanwhile, Gala, despite her age, strove to have many lovers, the younger, the better, bribing them with her husband's fame and expensive gifts.
Young Amanda Lear and the aging but bright Gala and Salvador
But there is nothing eternal under the sun. On June 10, 1982, at the age of 87, Gala died and was buried in Pubol.
Pubol Castle - last resort queen of surrealism Gala Dali
After the death of his wife, Salvador Dali seemed to actually have lost the left hemisphere of the brain. He weakened, completely stopped even serving himself elementarily at the household level, fell ill, attacked the nurses. He also quit his job. In the throes of such an existence without Galla, he lived for another seven years. On January 23, 1989, the genius himself, who declared that "surrealism is me," did not become. But let's call a spade a spade: surrealism is Salvador and Gala.
“Gala is my only muse, my genius and my life, without Galla I am nobody”
Salvador Dali
Gala Dali. What to watch?
Documentary film "More than love. Gala Dali "(2011, Russia).
Documentary film "Gala" (2003, Spain, directed by Sylvia Mount).
Dominique Bona, Gala. Muse of artists and poets, 1996, Rusich publishing house (biography of Gala Dali).
Dali. Portrait of Gala with two lamb ribs balanced on her shoulder. 1933
Dali. Galarina. 1944-1945
Dali. My wife, naked, looks at her own body, which has become a ladder, three vertebrae of a column, the sky and architecture. 1945
Dali. Madonna of Port Lligat. 1950
Dali. Our Lady of Guadalupe. 1959
Mother, lover and friend - all for one person. Behind every great man is a great woman. For one of the most well-known representatives surrealism, Salvador Dali, such was the Gala - "brilliant, like the surface of the sea", elegant and insanely vicious.
Gala Dali was born under the name Elena Ivanovna Dyakonova, on September 7, 1894, in Kazan (Kazan), in the family of an official Ivan Dyakonov. Her father died in 1905, and Gala's mother, Antonina Deulina, remarried - to a lawyer.
Among the famous childhood friends of Gala was the poetess Marina Tsvetaeva. Dali left Russia in 1912. Due to pulmonary tuberculosis, she was sent for treatment to the Clavadel Sanatorium in Switzerland (Switzerland), where she made an acquaintance with the poet Eugène Grindel.
He made her his muse and offered her a hand and a heart, despite the opposition of his parents, who considered such a union unequal. Eugene wrote poetry for her, on her advice he took the pseudonym Paul Eluard (Paul Éluard) and began to call his love Gala ("holiday"). In 1918, the couple had a daughter, Cecile.
Some contemporaries are unanimous in their opinion regarding Dali's external data. Even in her youth, she did not differ in beauty, but this did not prevent her from remaining in the spotlight. Ardent and determined, Dali juggled the audience, enchanted her surroundings and unshakably believed in her own strength.
The men behaved around her as if they were really bewitched. German artist Max Ernst (Max Ernst) is a prime example. In 1921, Gala and Eugene visited him in Germany (German). Dali posed for him and became his mistress. The novel was spinning in front of her husband, who gave his consent to form a love triangle. In 1922, Ernst moved to the couple's house in Val-d'Oise.
Gale was 36 when, in 1929, she, again with her husband, paid a visit to the young artist Salvador Dali in Cadaqués. Up to this point, El Salvador was terrified of women, but Gala discovered in him new side his personality, not only full of passion, but also new creative ideas. "The demoness of my genius," as the Spanish painter called her.
Another love triangle did not work out - Gala left Fields. In 1932, the lovers played a wedding, and in 1958 they held a religious ceremony. Dali signed his paintings "Gala-Salvador-Dali" and enjoyed the extensive connections of Gala, who among her acquaintances has many influential and wealthy citizens.
Gala was the manager of her husband, while he presented her as a modern icon. Newspapers repeatedly wrote that the sensual and weak-willed artist was captivated by a harpy trying by hook or by crook to break through to the top. Dali saw a living myth in his wife, and the press - rigidity and prudence.
He called her Gradiva, Galatea, a talisman, gold, an olive, and the press "Gala Plague", "greedy Russian slut", "penetrating glance through bank safes" and "greedy Valkyrie". However, the fact remains: it was Gala who helped Salvador, no doubt possessing great talent, become a multimillionaire and gain worldwide fame.
The artist allowed Gala to have as many lovers as her soul desired. He even stated that he himself encouraged her to look for new flesh, because it excites him. The older Gala became, the more lovers she had, whose age only got younger. They say that in Gala the husband found the ideal expression of the mother, and she found the son in him. It is no secret that she deprived her daughter Cecile of love, and from that it becomes clear why Paul Eluard's grandmother was engaged in her upbringing.
Changing men like gloves, Gala spent a fortune on her "boys". Her favorites received money, houses, cars and even paintings by Dali. Once the heartbreaker was having dinner at a restaurant with Eric Samon, while his accomplices were trying to steal her car. Another lover, William Rothlein, with her support, stopped using drugs and auditioned for Federico Fellini. But soon after Gala cooled down to Rothlein, he died of an overdose.
Another "boy-toy", singer Jeffrey Fenholt, known for playing the role of Jesus in the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" ("Jesus Christ Superstar"), received more than a million dollars and a Dali painting from Gala, but subsequently claimed that had nothing to do with her.
Fame, money, sex - everything went just fine, except for one thing: Gala was getting old. Feeling the approach of sunset, she asked El Salvador to buy her the medieval Castle of Pubol (Castle of Gala Dali). The purchase took place in 1968. The spouse was allowed to appear there only by special written invitation. Dali was completely delighted with such restrictions, because Gala again became an "impregnable fortress" for him, and in close proximity the artist saw a threat to the destruction of any passion.
In the last years of her life, Gala, as best she could, resisted the onset of senile infirmity and struggled with illnesses. She once declared that the day of her death would be the happiest day of her life. In 1982, after an unsuccessful fall, Gala broke her femoral neck. She spent several days in the clinic, where she suffered from severe pain, before she died on June 10. Dali took her body to the family crypt in Pubol.
The artist lived for another seven years. His Parkinson's disease progressed. He suffered severe burns in the Pubol Castle fire in 1984, suffered from "heart failure" in 1989 and died shortly thereafter on 23 January.
Gala Vela The Diary in Russian. It is not known for certain where these priceless records are now.
35 years ago, on June 10, 1982, a woman passed away, whose name entered the history of art thanks to Salvador Dali, whose wife and muse she has been for many years. She managed to become for him at the same time a mother, lover and friend, absolutely irreplaceable and adored. But Dali was far from the only man for her. Gala never denied herself her desires and forced the artist to indulge her every whim.
Elena Dyakonova (that was her real name) left Russia in 1912. She fell ill with consumption and was sent to a Swiss sanatorium for treatment, where she met the French poet Eugene Grendel. He lost his head from her and decided to marry, against the will of his parents, who considered this marriage a misalliance. He dedicated poems to her and published on her advice under the sonorous pseudonym Paul Eluard. He called her Gala - "holiday".
Gala already had clear ideas about how she wants to see her future in France. “I will shine like a cocotte, smell of perfume and always have well-groomed hands with manicured nails.” And although, according to contemporaries, she was not beautiful even in her youth, she knew how to make a splash in society. This was due to unshakable confidence in himself and his charms, as well as the ability to intrigue the public. She appeared in a Chanel suit with a deck of cards in her purse and, declaring herself a medium, began to predict the future. The men called her the "witchy Slav" and reacted to her as if they were really under the influence of magic.
The German artist and sculptor Max Ernst could not resist her charms. Gala not only did not hide the affair from her husband, but also convinced him of the need to live together. She always preached the ideas of free love, and considered jealousy a stupid prejudice.
At the time of her acquaintance with the young artist Salvador Dali, she was 36 years old. He was 11 years younger, never entered into intimate relationship with women and was terribly afraid of them. Gala awakened in him feelings that he had not experienced before. According to him, she not only evoked passion, but also kindled creativity. He called her "the demoness of my genius."
Gala not only gave a powerful source of inspiration to the artist, but also was his manager, the creator of Dali's "brand". Among her acquaintances there were many influential and wealthy people whom she offered to invest in her husband's work. He signed the paintings "Gala Salvador Dali", no longer thinking of his existence without his muse, and she convinced him: "Soon you will be the way I want to see you, my boy."
However, not everyone shared the admiration of the artist. The press wrote about him and his muse: "Helpless in everyday life, an extremely sensual artist was captivated by a tough, prudent and desperately striving for the top predator, which the surrealists dubbed the Gala Plague." She was called the "greedy Valkyrie" and the "greedy Russian slut."
Gala never denied herself pleasure, to which her husband reacted calmly: “I allow Gala to have as many lovers as she wants. I even encourage her because it turns me on.” And she said: "It's a pity that my anatomy does not allow me to make love with five men at once." And the older she got, the younger were her lovers, and the greater was their number.
It was said that "her boys are worth a fortune" - she showered them with money and gifts, bought them houses and cars. One day, one of them, Eric Samon, was having dinner with her at a restaurant, while his accomplices were trying to steal her car. And here is 22-year-old William Rothlein, whom Gala helped get rid of drug addiction really was in love with her. But after he failed Fellini's audition, her passion faded immediately. And William soon died of a drug overdose. Singer Jeff Fenholt, who performed leading role in the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar", received a $1.25 million house and paintings by Dali as a gift from his mistress, and then denied any connection with her.
When she felt the approach of old age, she asked Dali to buy for her medieval castle in Pubol, where she organized real orgies. And the husband was allowed to be there only by special written invitation. And even this, according to his confession, he liked: “This condition flattered my masochistic inclinations and led me to complete delight. Gala has turned into an impregnable fortress, which it has always been. Close intimacy and, especially, familiarity can extinguish any passion. Restraint of feelings and distance, as the neurotic ritual of chivalrous love shows, intensify passion.
The artist until the end of his days loved his muse, although he often appeared in public with other women:.
Dali and Gala met in 1929 when she was married. Three years later she became the wife of Salvador
Mother or tyrant - who was the muse of Salvador Dali Gala?
She went down in history under the name of Gala - a brilliant muse, companion, adored and beloved woman. Almost a goddess. Her biographers are still perplexed: what was special about her, how could she, possessing neither beauty nor talent, drive creative husbands crazy? Gala's union with Salvador Dali lasted half a century, and it is safe to say that it was thanks to his wife that the artist was able to show all the strength and power of his gift.
Some consider her a prudent predator who cynically used Dali, who was naive and inexperienced in everyday affairs, others - the embodiment of love and femininity. The history of Gala, who appeared in this world under the name of Elena Dyakonova, began in Kazan, in 1894. Her father, official Ivan Dyakonov, passed away early. Mother soon remarried lawyer Dmitry Gomberg. Elena considered him her father and took her middle name after his name. Soon the family moved to Moscow. Here Elena studied at the same gymnasium with Anastasia Tsvetaeva, who left her verbal portrait. Even then, our heroine knew how to impress people: “In a half-empty classroom, a thin, long-legged girl in a short dress sits on a desk. This is Elena Dyakonova. Narrow face, blond braid with a curl at the end. Unusual eyes: brown, narrow, slightly set in Chinese. Dark thick eyelashes so long that, as their friends later claimed, two matches could be placed next to them. In the face of stubbornness and that degree of shyness that makes movements abrupt.
Elena herself was sure that her destiny was to inspire and charm men. She wrote in her diary. “I will never be just a housewife. I will read a lot, a lot. I will do whatever I want, but at the same time maintain the attractiveness of a woman who does not overwork herself. I will shine like a cocotte, smell of perfume and always have well-groomed hands with manicured nails. And the first chance to try out her charms soon presented itself to her.
holiday girl
In 1912, in poor health, Elena was sent to the Clavadel Sanatorium in Switzerland to be treated for tuberculosis. There she met the young French poet Eugene Emile Paul Grandel, whose father, a wealthy real estate dealer, hoped that the healing air would knock poetic whim out of his offspring. However, the young man also acquired a love ailment: he lost his head because of this unusual, mysterious girl from distant Russia. She introduced herself as Galina, but he began to call her Gala with an emphasis on the last syllable, from the French "festive, lively." Relatives did not encourage his hobbies for poetry, and in the face of his beloved, he found a grateful listener. She also invented for him that sonorous pseudonym under which he would become famous - Paul Eluard. The father of the young man did not share his admiration: “I don’t understand why you need this girl from Russia? Are there really few Parisians? And he ordered the newly minted Field to immediately return to his homeland. The lovers parted, but their feelings for each other only grew stronger. For almost five years (!) This romance continued at a distance. “My dear lover, my darling, my dear boy! Gala wrote to Eluard. “I miss you as something indispensable.”
She addressed him as a boy - even then in young Elena there was a strong maternal beginning. She felt a desire to instruct, protect, patronize. And it is no coincidence that subsequently she chose lovers younger than herself. Realizing that nothing can be achieved from the indecisive Paul, and a novel in the epistolary genre cannot last forever, Elena decided to take fate into her own hands and went to Paris. In February 1917, when the revolution shook her homeland, the enterprising girl married a young Frenchman. By that time, Paul's parents had already come to terms with his choice and, as a sign of blessing, even presented the newlyweds with a huge bed made of bog oak. “We will live on it and we will die on it,” said Eluard. And I was wrong.
Amour de trois
At first, life in Paris made Gala very happy. From a shy girl, she turned into a real l'etoile - bright, brilliant, alluring. She took pleasure in bohemian amusements. But household chores bored me. The family, being sure that Gala had fragile health, did not particularly bother her. She did whatever she wanted. Sometimes, referring to a migraine or abdominal pain, she lay in bed, then she read, then she altered outfits or wandered around the shops in search of another original little thing. In 1918, the couple had a daughter, Cecile. But the appearance of the baby did not particularly affect the mood of Gala. She happily entrusted the care of the child to her mother-in-law. Paul watched with dismay as his wife descended into melancholy. "I'm dying of boredom!" She said and didn't lie. So acquaintance with the artist Max Ernst added to the disgusting family life fresh colors. According to contemporaries, Gala, although she was not a beauty, had a special charm, magnetism and sensuality that worked flawlessly on men. Max didn't resist either. Gala's romance with the artist developed with the tacit approval of her husband. Soon the love couple stopped hiding altogether, and to their sexual pleasures... Paul himself joined in, who was very excited by the presence of another man. The relationship "de trois" so captivated the spouses that even later, after the break with Max, they sometimes looked after themselves some kind of victim - an artist or a poet who admired them both. In the meantime, Ernst moved to the Eluards and began to live with them under the same roof, "in the torment caused by love and friendship." Paul called him brother, Gala posed for him and shared her family bed with him. The piquant union turned out to be very fruitful for inspiration. During the relationship "de trois" Eluard with Max released a collection of jointly written strange poems "The Misfortunes of the Immortals." But then the idyll came to an end. Feeling that in the heart of his wife he was gradually fading into the background, Paul put the question squarely: he or I. Gala did not dare to leave her husband. But she could not finally break with Max. For a couple of years they corresponded and sometimes met. The final break occurred only in 1927, when the artist married Marie-Berthe Orange. However, as before, the Eluards financially supported former lover by buying his paintings.
Serving the Body of the Muses
Gala and Dali met in 1929 when the Eluards paid a visit to the artist in Cadaqués. He also claimed that he saw his goddess, his muse much earlier, as a child, when he was presented with a fountain pen with a portrait of a black-eyed girl wrapped in furs. In an effort to seem original, the owner decided to meet guests in unusual form. He tore off his silk shirt, shaved his armpits and dyed them blue, rubbed his body with a mixture of fish glue, goat droppings and lavender, and inserted a geranium flower behind his ear. But when he saw his guest through the window, he immediately ran to wash off this magnificence. So before the couple, Eluard Dali appeared almost a normal person. Almost - because in the presence of Gala, who so shocked his imagination, he could not carry on a conversation and periodically began to laugh hysterically. The future muse looked at him with curiosity, the artist's eccentric behavior did not scare her away, on the contrary, spurred her imagination. “I immediately realized that he was a genius,” Gala later wrote.
It was lightning that struck both of them. “Her body was tender, like that of a child. The line of the shoulders was almost perfectly rounded, and the muscles of the waist, outwardly fragile, were athletically tense, like those of a teenager. But the curve of the lower back was truly feminine. The graceful combination of a slender, energetic torso, aspen waist and tender hips made her even more desirable. This is how Dali described the object of his adoration. I must say that before meeting the Eluard couple, the 25-year-old artist had no bright novels. The admirer of Nietzsche avoided and was even slightly afraid of women. At a young age, Salvador lost his mother and, to some extent, found her in Gal. She was ten years older and took her beloved under her tender guardianship. “I love Gala more than my mother, more than my father, more than Picasso and even more than money,” the artist admitted. This time, Paul did not interfere with someone else's happiness, packed his bags and left home. He took with him his own portrait painted by Dali. The painter decided in such a strange way to thank the guest from whom he took his wife. Dali and Gala officially registered their marriage in 1932, and the religious ceremony took place only in 1958, out of respect for the feelings of Eluard. Although he got a mistress, dancer Maria Benz, he still wrote tender letters ex-wife and hoped for a reunion. “My beautiful, sacred girl, be sensible and cheerful. As long as I love you—and I will love you forever—you have nothing to fear. You are my life. I kiss you wholeheartedly. I want to be with you - naked and tender. The so-called Paul. P.S. Hello baby Dali.
At first, the Dali couple lived in poverty, earning by hard work. Parisian socialite turned into a nanny, secretary, manager of her brilliant husband. When there was no inspiration to paint, she forced him to develop models of hats, ashtrays, decorate shop windows, and advertise goods. “We never gave up before failures,” Dali noted. - We got out thanks to the strategic dexterity of Gal. We didn't go anywhere. Gala sewed her own dresses, and I worked a hundred times more than any mediocre artist.
Gala took matters into her own hands. Their day was built according to the scheme, which she described as follows: "In the morning, El Salvador makes mistakes, and in the afternoon I correct them, tearing up the treaties he had frivolously signed." She became his only female model and the main plot of inspiration, admired the works of Dali, tirelessly repeated that he was a genius, used all her connections to promote his talent. The couple led a public life, often appeared on the pages of magazines. Gradually things got better. Dali's house began to besieged by crowds of wealthy collectors who were eager to acquire paintings consecrated by a genius. In 1934, Gala took the next step to popularize Dali's talent. They went to America. The country, in love with everything new and unusual, enthusiastically accepted the extravagant artist. Art connoisseurs responded to Dali's most incredible ideas and were ready to pay huge sums of money for them. Journalist Frank Whitford wrote in the Sunday Times: “The Gala-Dali couple was somewhat reminiscent of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Helpless in everyday life, an extremely sensual artist was captivated by a tough, prudent and desperately upward predator, which the surrealists dubbed the Gala Plague. It was also said of her that her gaze penetrates the walls of bank vaults. However, in order to find out the state of Dali's account, she did not need x-ray abilities: the account was common. She simply took the defenseless and undoubtedly gifted Dali and turned him into a multimillionaire and a world-famous star.
The journalists did not see the main thing: Gala's touching affection, almost maternal tenderness towards her impractical spouse. Gala's sister, Lydia, who visited them, wrote that she had never seen such a reverent attitude of a woman towards a man: nightmares and with infinite patience dispels his suspiciousness.
Everyone found in this union what they were looking for. No wonder they lived together for half a century soul to soul, until the death of Gal. Although their union was not a model of loyalty to each other. The aging diva changed young lovers like gloves. Her latest passion was singer Jeff Fenholt, who starred in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Gala took an active part in his fate, helped him start his career and gave luxury house on Long Island. Dali looked through his fingers at his wife's intrigues. “I let Gala have as many lovers as she wants. I even encourage her because it turns me on.”
IN last years Life Gala wanted solitude. At her request, the artist gave her the medieval castle of Pubol in the province of Girona. He could visit his wife only with her prior written permission. “The day of death will be the happiest day of my life,” she said, eaten by senile infirmity. He surrounded himself with young favorites, but none of them managed to touch his heart.
In 1982, at the age of eighty-eight, Gala died in a local hospital. The Spanish law, adopted during the plague, forbade the transportation of the bodies of the dead, but Dali fulfilled the last will of his beloved. Wrapping the wife's body in white sheet, he put him in the back seat of the Cadillac and took him to Pubol, where she bequeathed herself to be buried. The artist was not present at the funeral. He entered the crypt only a few hours later, when the crowd had dispersed. And, gathering the remnants of courage, he said: "Look, I'm not crying ...".