Gala

The life of Salvador Dali (Salvador Felip Zhasinti Dali Domenek 05/11/1904–23.01.1989), the Spanish artist, painter, graphics and sculptor, and just the most famous surrealist, permeated with mystery and secrets. It is still that someone is able to say with confidence whether he was a genius or just a psycho. His works are amazing at the skill of performance and an amazing look at the nature of things. But in this post we will not talk about the Dali itself, but about the one that for 53 years gave inspiration to the great genius - his beautiful Gala.

Gala was born in Kazan, on the Volga. She was about ten years older than Dali, that is, she was born somewhere in the 1890s. Her present name Elena Dmitrievna Dyakonova. Having passed the university literature course, being in the St. Petersburg boarding house of noble girls, for some reason she could not even enter an ordinary institute. In her early photographs, you can see a strong, decisive face with devilishly burning, deeply planted dark eyes, small mouth and high cheekbones. Her eyes express determination, confidence and disobedience.

In her biography there is such a fact that, being a child, she suffered from a certain psychic disease. In general, Gala was a painful child. In 1912, at 17 years old, doctors diagnosed her with tuberculosis and sent for treatment to Switzerland. There in a sanatorium, she met with her future husband Elyar. In 1914, Gala’s health was recovering and she had to go home to Russia. Separation from Elyuar was a difficult period in the life of Gala. Finally, in the summer of 1916, she decided to go to Paris. This is not to say exactly what attracted her - love for Elyuar or France. Nevertheless, in February 1917, Gala stood in front of the altar in a white wedding dress. In the same year, she became pregnant, it was, in her opinion, an unexplored child and having giving birth, she did not want to completely surrender to the upbringing of her daughter - Cecil.

Later, in the early 1920s, Gala began to attract attention in society. With the silent consent of her husband, Elyuar's husband, she twisted an affair with the German artist and sculptor Max Ernst. For some time, Eluer, Ernst and Gala divided the bed into three. Despite such a liberal attitude to sex and love for mystification, Gala was one of the few women that the surrealists took seriously and listened to her opinion. Later they will say about her: “Gala knew what she wanted: pleasures for the heart and all five feelings, as well as money and company relations with geniuses. She was not interested in politics or philosophy. She evaluated people by their effectiveness in the real world and eliminated those who were mediocre - and for all that she was able to inspire passions and incite the creative forces of such different men as Ernst, Eluer, Dali. ”

The next changes in the life of Gala occurred during the trip of the group of surrealists to Cadakes. There she met Salvador Dali. At this time, her family life and the fields of Elyuar completely went wrong. Gala understood that Elyar was talented, but still the money she costs, he would never earn. What exactly attracted her to Dali? Was it a romantic feeling or calculation of wealth and luxury? It remains only to guess ...

Gala possessed a huge female charm, forcing men to admire her, devote poetry, write her portraits.

Having conquered Dali, Gala received not only his heart, she took possession of his mind. She needed genius, and was convinced that Dali was that real great genius. Salvador Dali, despite his innate egoism, created idols for himself all his life - from the beginning it was Lorca, then Bonyel and, finally, the Divine Gala. “I love Galu more than my father, more than a mother, more than Picasso. And even more than money, ”wrote Dali.

Gala and Dali lived together for 53 years. Approaching for the age of 70, Gala began to feel a certain need to move away from the person with whom she lived for so many years. At her request, they gave in 1969 he bought a castle, where she spent a lot of time with young people, spending money, from time to time playing roulette. Gradually, relations gave and the freedom -loving Gala began to navigate.

Gala died on June 10, 1982, she was about 89 years old. Her life was a secret. A woman of deep and strong passions, she was for Salvador Dali both with salvation and destruction. It can be said with full confidence that it was a true muse for the great artist of the 20th century.