Dali Planet #35: Women problems
Dali’s long-time secretary Peter Moore pointed out that Salvador’s relationship with Gala got off to a start that was as rocky as Cap Creus, even if her husband Paul Eluard didn’t seem to mind (he and Dali remained friends).
The Dalis are seen here in a photo by Robert Descharnes with a collection of Faberge eggs they received as a wedding gift in 1958.
Not only did Dali’s father go berserk at the thought of him being in love with an older, married, Russian non-Catholic, his sister denounced Gala to the Guardia Civil as a whore. Dali, Moore claimed, never spoke to Anna again, although they did reconcile in the end, as we shall see.
Gala was, in Moore’s estimation, the reason Dali became greedy. He had to keep making lots of money to keep her happy, whereas Dali had little idea of its value. She once gave him $100 because he was taking a taxi from their hotel to another, and when he got there he phoned Gala to say he had no money for the return trip. Evidently he’d looked at the taxi meter, which said “1.00 dollar”, and read it as 100. Pictured here is “Portrait of Gala” from about 1977.
Meanwhile, Moore continued, Dali had to make up his mind about another woman in his life: a Dior model known as Nanita. Once, when Dali heard that Nanita was seriously ill, he went to Cadaques’ main church and prayed for three hours, proof enough, said Moore, that he never really forsook his religion.
