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Relationship Goals - Salvador Dali and Gala

[b]Marriage to Dali[/b]

After living together since 1929, Dali and Gala married in a civil ceremony in 1934, and remarried in a Catholic ceremony in 1958 in the Pyrenean hamlet of Montrejic. They needed to receive a special dispensation by the Pope because Gala had been previously married. Due to his purported phobia of female genitalia, Dali was said to have been a virgin when they met at Costa Brava in 1929. Around that time she was found to have uterine fibroids, for which she underwent a hysterectomy in 1936. She was Dali's muse, directly inspiring and appearing in many of his works.

In the early 1930s, Dali 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 Eluard), which Dali 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 1968, Dali bought Gala her own separate castle in Pubol, Girona, where she would spend time every summer from 1971-1980. He also agreed not to visit there without getting advance permission from her in writing.

In her late seventies, Gala had a relationship with rock singer Jeff Fenholt. She purportedly lavished him with gifts, including Dali's paintings and a million dollar home on Long Island. Fenholt later became a televangelist.

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Dali loved her deeply and irrevocably. Can you love someone that mercilessly cold?

October 21, 2014