The slutty muse of genius: Gala Dali and her love polygons

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

35 years ago, on June 10, 1982, a woman died whose name went down in art history 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 all her whims.

Elena Dyakonova (that was her name in fact) 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 also called her Gala - "holiday".

Gala even then had a clear idea of how she wanted 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 self-confidence and charm, 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 witchcraft 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 charm either. Gala not only did not hide the novel from her husband, but also convinced him of the need to live in three. She always preached the idea 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 relationships with women and was terrified of them. Gala awakened feelings in him that he had never experienced before. According to him, she not only aroused passion, but also fueled creativity. He called her "the demoness of my genius."

Gala not only gave a powerful charge of inspiration to the artist, but was also 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 pictures "Gala-Salvador-Dali", no longer imagining his existence without his muse, but she persuaded him: "Soon you will be the way I want to see you, my boy."

However, not everyone shared the artist's admiration. In the press, they wrote about him and his muse: "A helpless in everyday life, an extremely sensual artist was captivated by a tough, calculating and desperately striving for the top predator, which the surrealists dubbed the Gala-Plague." She was called "the greedy Valkyrie" and "the greedy Russian whore."

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 excites me. " And she said: "It is a pity that my anatomy does not allow me to make love with five men at once." And the older she got, the younger her lovers were, and the greater their number.

They said that "her boys are worth a fortune" - she showered them with money and gifts, bought them houses and cars. Once one of them, Eric Samon, was having dinner with her in a restaurant, while his accomplices were trying to steal her car. But 22-year-old William Rothlein, whom Gala helped to get rid of drug addiction, was really in love with her. But after he did not pass the acting tests with Fellini, her passion immediately faded away. And William soon died of a drug overdose. Singer Jeff Fenholt, who played the main role in the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar", received a house for $ 1.25 million and a picture of 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 a medieval castle in Pubol, where she organized real orgies. And the husband was allowed to come there only by a special written invitation. And even this, according to his confession, he liked: “This condition flattered my masochistic inclinations and made me completely delighted. Gala turned into an impregnable fortress, which it always was. Close intimacy and especially familiarity can quench any passion. Restraint of feelings and distance, as the neurotic ritual of knightly love shows, intensify passion."

In 1982, Gala fell unsuccessfully, breaking her hip. Her health was already weak, in the last days in the clinic she suffered from severe pain, and soon died. Dali put her in the back seat of the Cadillac and drove her to their family crypt in Pubol. The artist outlived his muse for 7 years, but this was not life, but a slow extinction and progressive madness.

Until the end of his days, the artist loved his muse, although he often appeared in public with other women: scandalous muse of Salvador Dali Amanda Lear.