Dalí’s body back in place after paternity test

Salvador Dalí rests in peace again once and for all. After DNA samples were taken from his body for a paternity test, his remains are back in his grave, in the Dalí Museum in Figueres, his hometown in northern Catalonia. The operation to reinter his remains lasted more than seven hours and was done with “privacy,” according to the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. On July 20, 2017 some parts of his body were exhumed following a paternity suit filed by Pilar Abel, a woman from Figueres. The paternity test proved that she is not the renowned Catalan artist’s daughter.

Moustache still at 10 past 10

The case made a big impact on the international media last summer. Yet Dalí’s foundation took all measures to avoid any image of the exhumation getting out, even erecting a tent above his grave to prevent drones from filming the event from above the building’s dome. During the exhumation, doctors took samples of the artist’s hair, nails, teeth and four bones. Representatives of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation said Dalí’s body was “well preserved,” and that his iconic moustache, just like clock hands, still read 10 past 10.

Abel condemned to pay process

After the tests proved that Abel is not related to Dalí, the judge in charge of the case ruled that she had to pay the expenses of the process. Yet she appealed the decision and rejected the results of the paternity test, on the grounds that the chain of custody of Dalí’s remains was not accredited. Born in 1956, Abel maintains that her mother and the painter had a secret relationship when her mother was working as a home assistant in Cadaqués for some friends of the Dalí family.

The works to reinter Dalí’s body took from 6pm on Thursday evening to 1am in the early hours of Friday morning. The museum opened its doors as usual on Friday.