New exhibition shines light on Gala Dalí

She was his muse and inspiration in many of his works. And now Gala Dalí has an exhibition dedicated to her at the MNAC in Barcelona. It opened its doors on Thursday, and brings together more than 300 documents, drawings, photos, and paintings all related to the wife of the great Catalan surrealist artist, Salvador Dalí.

The exhibition sheds a new light on Gala, but in doing so also reveals another side of Dalí himself  “By remembering Gala, another side of Dalí is remembered, and I think is very interesting because Dalí is a performer, both are in some way performers. One paints, the other doesn’t, but that doesn’t matter,” explained Estrella de Diego, the curator of the exhibition.

Gala’s figure plays a key role in the artwork on display. Her poses often a dominant force in the work of the late artist, but also in the photographs in which she appears. And as a performer, she influenced the final outcome of a piece, according to the curator

“She is much more than a model, she has control over her image. Someone with so much control over their image is not going to let herself be painted in any kind of way,” Estrella de Diego said. But even though Gala is the protagonist of the exhibition, the talent of Dalí still shines through.

He was after all, one of the greats of his time, a man who seemed to walk a fine line between madness and ingenuity. The work of the eccentric artist still leaves audiences in awe to this day. The Dalí Theatre Museum in his birthplace of Figueres attracts over a million people every year. Designed by Salvador Dalí it offers a surrealist insight into his mind, and offers visitors a journey into the weird.

For a glance through the keyhole, though, the ‘Gala Salvador Dalí: a room of one’s own in Púbol’ runs until October 14. Tickets are eight euros.