IN spanish city Figueres exhumed the artist's body at the end of July Salvador Dali. Forensic experts reported that the remains were well preserved - hair and famous mustache surrealists turned out to be untouched by time. Dali's body was exhumed to establish family ties: a fortune teller from Girona Maria Pilar Abel Martinez stated that she might be illegitimate daughter famous artist. We will tell you how Martinez is trying to be recognized as Dali's daughter.
Maria Martinez, a tarot card reader, claims that her mother had an affair with Dali in 1955. She herself was born in 1956. In the 1950s, the woman’s mother worked in the small Catalan town of Cadaques, where Dali often visited. Martinez says that even as a child she was told that she was the daughter of an artist.
“Am I really the daughter of Salvador Dali? He's so ugly!" Martinez told her mother one day. She replied that he, of course, was not handsome, but had a special charm, and confirmed that she had indeed become pregnant by the artist. Martinez’s mother was then 25 years old, Dali was 51. Martinez herself met the artist several times on the streets of his hometown, but did not communicate closely with him. She believes that her gift as a fortuneteller comes from her biological father.
Martinez has repeatedly tried to prove that she is actually the daughter of Salvador Dali. However, so far she has not been able to do this: a paternity test can only be carried out using exhumation. Permission to exhume the body in June 2017 was issued by the Madrid court, since no other biological samples with the artist’s DNA remained.
Dalí is buried under a concrete slab in a museum in his native Figueres. According to the artist's will, he had to be buried in such a way that people could walk on his grave. Dali's body was removed on the evening of July 19 and taken to the laboratory, where specialists took samples of the artist's teeth, bones and nails.
Narcis Bardalet, who prepared Dali’s body for burial in 1989 (the artist died at the age of 85), was present at the opening of the grave, writes the BBC. “When I took off the blanket, I became emotional. I really wanted to see him - and I was amazed, it was like a miracle. His mustache looked 10 out of 10, and his hair was kept exactly right,” he said.
The results of the DNA analysis are still unknown; it should take several weeks to complete. If Maria Martinez nevertheless establishes a relationship with Dali, she may inherit all of his property, which now belongs to the state. According to The Daily Telegraph, Dalí's estate is valued at approximately $300 million. A DNA paternity test alone will not be enough for Martinez to claim the inheritance: she faces a long legal battle against the state.
Not everyone believes Martinez's words. Dali did not have children; he admitted more than once that he suffered from impotence and avoided sex. He and his wife Gala (Elena Dyakonova) lived in an open marriage, the wife had many lovers, but Dali himself could not stand it when someone touched him. It is known that orgies were held in their house, but Dali did not participate in them, preferring to observe. As Dalí biographer Ian Gibson notes, it is “absolutely impossible” that Dalí, who was already married to Gala, could have had a traditional relationship with any woman.
A court in Spain has ordered the exhumation of the remains of Salvador Dali.
This is necessary to continue hearings on the claim of the woman who claims to be only daughter worldwide famous surrealist. If this is indeed the case, she will be entitled to a share of the vast wealth and legacy of one of the most famous and prolific artists of the 20th century.
The court in Madrid said Dalí's exhumation was necessary "to obtain samples of his remains to determine whether he is the biological father of a woman from Girona (in northeastern Spain) who has filed a claim to be recognized as the artist's daughter."
“DNA research on the artist’s body is necessary due to the lack of other biological or personal remains with which to conduct comparative analysis“, - it is said in conclusion.
The Dali Foundation, which manages the artist's legacy,
stated that he would file an appeal “in the coming days”,
but did not specify the details.
Pilar Abel (left) with her 86-year-old mother Antonia Martinez de Jaro in 2015. Photo: The New York Times
61-year-old clairvoyant Pilar Abel claims her mother had an affair with Dali while she was working as a nanny for a family holidaying in Port Ligat, a tiny fishing village on the coast near Cadaques. There the painter lived and worked for years with his muse Gala.
Pilar Abel Martinez was born on February 1, 1956 in the Catalan city of Figueres, she claims that her mother had a secret relationship with the artist in Port Ligat. In 1955, the mother moved to Castellon de Empurias, got married and after some time had a daughter.
According to Pilar, she first heard that she was Dali’s illegitimate daughter from her grandmother,
mother of the official father.
“My grandmother told me: “I know that you are not my son’s daughter, I know that your father is - great artist. And she said that his name was Dali,” Abel said in an interview with the Catalan television channel TV3 in 2015. She added that her mother later admitted the truth of these words.
In 2015, Pilar Abel filed the first lawsuit to establish paternity, but the court took her side only in June 2017.
If the examination really proves that the great surrealist is her biological father, Pilar will be able to claim his surname and copyright.
On the left is Maria Pilar Abel Martinez, on the right is Salvador Dali.
The fortune teller loves to imitate the gestures and mannerisms of her supposed father and repeats all the time: “The only thing I’m missing is a mustache.” In 2007 and 2008, she conducted several DNA tests using hair and skin left on death mask They did, but the results were inconclusive.
Pilar's lawyer, Enrique Blanquez, told AFP that the affair "was known in the village and some people gave evidence in the presence of a notary." The lawyer added that there was a certain woman “who worked for Dali, whom he paid to find out the fate of the plaintiff’s mother.”
Salvador Dali was born on May 11, 1904 in Figueres, into a bourgeois family. From an early age he showed interest in painting, and in 1922 he entered the Academy fine arts in Madrid.
He was expelled from there twice, but at the same time developed his first artistic ideas together with the poet Federico García Lorca and director Luis Buñuel.
Soon Dali left for Paris, where he joined the surrealist movement, giving it new breath and meaning with his works. Returning to Catalonia 12 years later, Dali invited him to Cadaqués French poet Paul Eluard and his Russian wife Elena Ivanovna Dyakonova. This meeting became decisive in the artist’s fate...
Elena became the artist’s lover, muse and life partner, receiving the nickname Gala from him. The couple never had children.
There is evidence that the artist was embarrassed by his
sexuality and was more of a voyeur than a participant
sexual games. In general, this topic is dark...
Salvador Dali and Gala
After Gala's death in 1982, Dali was broken both as a person and as an artist. He died seven years later on January 23, 1989 at the age of 85 from heart failure, and was buried in the Dalí Theater and Museum in Figueres, as he had wished.
He wanted his whole life and its manifestations to be accessible to the people, he wanted to be buried under a nameless slab on which people could walk. Now anyone can come to the crypt of the great surrealist.
The museum's management tried to delay the exhumation.
The mayor of the city, Marta Felip, said that “even with all the desire to execute the court decision, it is almost impossible to do this on July 20,” and that it is “not such a simple thing.
She recalled that the artist rests in a crypt under a stone slab that weighs a ton. In addition, the building is a heritage building of National Cultural Interest. Therefore, it is necessary to request permission to carry out the work.
The exhumation process was initially expected to begin at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. Moscow time) Thursday, but the court agreed to postpone the start of work until the evening, after the museum was closed to the public. That is, work will begin at 20.00 pm local time (21.00 Moscow time) and should be completed by Friday morning. The process will involve a forensic team and court representatives.
Music: Victor Zinchuk “Lonely in the Night”
The body of painter Salvador Dali was exhumed on the evening of July 20 to take a DNA sample to settle a paternity case.
Samples for the test were taken from the artist's teeth, bones and nails during a four-hour operation. The exhumation took place as a result of a court order - the request of Maria Pilar Abel Martinez was satisfied, who claims that her mother had an affair with the artist, and she herself is his daughter.
If she is right, she will be able to lay claim to Dali's inheritance, currently owned by the Spanish state.
The surrealist artist, who died in 1989 aged 85, was buried in a crypt at a museum dedicated to his life and work in Figueres, north-east Spain.
On Thursday evening, shortly before the exhumation, a crowd gathered outside the museum to watch police escort experts into the building. As soon as the last visitors of the day left the museum, the 1.5-ton stone slab that lies over Dalí's grave was lifted so that experts could reach the artist's body.
Experts who exhumed Salvador Dali's body to take samples reported that the mustache mysterious artist still adorn his face almost three decades after his death.
Narcissus Bardalet, an embalmer who cared for Dali's body after his death in 1989 and helped with the exhumation process, said he was delighted to see the surrealist's most recognizable feature again.
Exhumation took place despite objections local authorities and the Dali Foundation, who argued that there were insufficient reasons for this.
Maria Pilar Abel Martinez, a tarot card reader born in 1956, says her mother Antonia had an affair with Dalí for a year before Abel was born. Her mother worked for a family who spent time in Cadaques, not far from the artist's home.
Last month, a Madrid judge ordered a settlement brought by the woman. The lawsuit is being disputed by the Dalí Foundation, which manages the estate of the artist, who had no children.
Pilar Abel says her mother and paternal grandmother told her early age that Dali was her real father. But the claim has surprised many, including Ian Gibson, Dalí's Irish biographer, who believes it is simply impossible. “Dali always boasted that he was impotent and that you had to be impotent to become a great artist,” the biographer said. 
Pilar Abel has been trying to prove her origins for the last 10 years and says the physical resemblance to the surrealist artist is so strong that "the only thing missing is a mustache."
In 2007, she was allowed to try to extract DNA from traces of skin and hair found on Dali's funeral mask. However, the results were inconclusive. Another attempt at DNA testing was made later that year, using material provided by the artist's friend and biographer Robert Descharnes.
Although Abel claimed that she never received the results of the second test, in 2008 Desharnes' son Nicolas told the Spanish news agency Efe that he learned from the doctor who carried out the tests that they were negative.
The results of the latest DNA test are expected in one to two months. After testing the samples, they will be returned to Dali's grave.
Salvador Dali's remains were exhumed in July this year as Spanish authorities tried to determine whether the great artist fathered a child as a result of an affair. The secretive procedure obtained samples of hair, fingernails, teeth and several bones from the artist's embalmed body, and DNA obtained from the samples may offer a definitive answer that could help resolve a long-running, high-profile paternity trial.
Dali's mustache has retained its shape!
On at the moment The answer to the main question is imprecise, but forensic experts were able to uncover one very interesting detail when they briefly removed Dalí's body from his tomb located at the Dalí Theater and Museum in Figueres: his legendary mustache remained in perfect shape. “His mustache retained the same classic position 10 hours 10 minutes, said Lewis Peñulas, general secretary Dali Foundation. “Discovering this was a very exciting moment.” The forensic doctor who embalmed the great artist's body in 1989 was also present during the procedure, which took place in July 2017 and took only a few hours. “It was a real miracle! - said Narcis Bardalet. “Salvador Dali is eternal.”
DNA paternity test
It may also turn out that he is the father. At least that's what 61-year-old Pilar Abel, who specializes in reading Tarot cards, says. She claims that the great artist had an affair with her mother in 1955, that is, one year before her birth. “The first time I saw him, I was a little girl,” she told reporters three years ago when she filed a lawsuit to claim part of the artist’s estate. “I was on a walk with my great-grandmother and she showed it to me.” At this time Dali was married, although, as is typical for a man like him, this marriage was far from the most ordinary. “At the time he was married to his muse Gala, who lived in the castle, which he could only visit with written permission,” explained journalist Lauren Fryer. - They didn't have children. Since Dalí had no heir, his entire fortune, amounting to hundreds of millions, was left to the Spanish state in 1989 when he died.”
Did Dali have a child?
In 2007, Abel made her claim public and has been seeking evidence ever since, saying she wanted to honor her mother in a similar way. Enrique Blanques, Abel's lawyer, also reports that if such evidence is found, Abel will be able to claim a quarter of Dali's estate, which he left after his death. Peñulas and the Dali Foundation, which manages the artist's estate, did not want the exhumation to take place, so attempts were made to fight the exhumation order issued by a Madrid judge in June 2017. Representatives of the Foundation also promised that they would continue to defend their position in court. “The Foundation considers that the exhumation of Salvador Dalí's body was completely inappropriate,” said a statement issued by the Foundation after the exhumation was completed and Dalí's body was returned to its place.
Position of representatives of the Dali Foundation
“Before agreeing to such an invasive act as the exhumation of the body of Salvador Dalí, the applicant Pilar Abel Martinez should have taken a DNA test herself to compare her DNA with the DNA of her legal father (deceased) or her brother, in order to obtain all the necessary evidence that she is not their daughter or sister, respectively,” representatives of the foundation believe. However, Abel herself is now confident that the forensic experts currently working on this case will prove her right. After all, she thinks she looks exactly like Salvador Dali. “The only thing I don’t have is a mustache,” she said. It remains to wait quite a bit, and the world will find out whether Dali had children.