Salvador Dalí exhumation: moustache still intact at ‘10 past 10’ position

Although Salvador Dalí died almost thirty years ago, the world-famous Catalan genius still surprises us with his surrealistic performances.

On Thursday evening, his remains were removed from the crypt located at the epicentre of the Dalí Theatre-Museum in the north-eastern Catalan town of Figueres. The exhumation was ordered by a Madrid court to extract DNA samples, following a paternity suit by Pilar Abel.

Abel, a tarot card reader born in 1956, claims that her mother and the painter had a secret affair. This affair would have taken place whilst her mother was working as a housekeeper in the seaside town of Cadaqués for some friends of the Dalí family.

The doctors took samples of the artist’s hair, nails, teeth and four bones. The remains will be exhumed again to put back all the pieces that were removed. Representatives of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, who manage the artist’s estate, said Dalí’s body was “well preserved,” and his moustache, just like clock hands, still reading 10 past 10.