The Dalís

The next time you see a Salvador Dalí painting with a woman in it (and there a lot), chances are it’s Gala Diaknova. After Dali met her in 1929, she became the only model he used in his artwork.

She was Dalí’s muse, his lover and his business manager, supervising several exhibitions in Europe and the U.S. And this all happened while she was married to another man.

In 1932, Gala divorced her first husband, Paul Éluard, and on January 30, 1934, she and Dalí were married in a civil ceremony in Paris. They later had a church ceremony after the death of Gala’s first husband.

The couple was married for 48 years until her death in 1982. But their love lives on in the many masterpieces Dalí created with her image.

Below is a double portrait of the two: