Salvador Dali’s Body Will Be Exhumed In Paternity Suit, Judge Rules

The body of Spanish painter Salvador Dali was set to be exhumed to obtain samples for a paternity suit, a judge ordered Monday. Maria Pilar Abel Martinez, a 58-year-old Spanish woman, alleged that her mother had an affair with Dali and that the famous surrealist was her father.

Dali, who died in 1989, didn’t leave enough biological remains or personal objects behind to prove paternity, the judge said. Thus, the exhumation would be necessary.

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The aim of the exhumation was to “get samples of his remains to determine whether he is the biological father of a woman from Girona [in northeastern Spain] who filed a claim to be recognized as the daughter of the artist,” said a statement issued Monday by the Madrid Supreme Court.

Abel, who first made the claim that Dali was her father in 2015, said her mother worked for a family who lived near Dali’s home. During that time, her mother said she had an affair with the painter, who was then married to Elena Ivanovna Diakonova. The two had no children together.

Abel said her mother repeatedly asserted that Dali was her father, often in public.

“The only thing I’m missing is a mustache,” Abel reportedly said, according to Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

The suit was filed against Spain’s tax office and public administration, both heirs of the painter, and the Dali Foundation. Abel could be eligible to receive part of his estate and could use his last name should the exhumation prove paternity. Dali was buried in his hometown of Figueres in the region of Catalonia, where his body remained at a theater and museum he designed himself. An exact date for the exhumation was not immediately set, and the decision could be appealed, but Abel's lawyer said it could happen as early as July.

Abel reportedly took a previous test in 2007 in an attempt to prove Dali was her father by using hair and skin remnants left on a “death mask” of the painter, but the results were not conclusive, according to the Guardian. She then approached Dali’s friend and official biographer, Robert Descharnes, about the matter of paternity. Abel said she then took another DNA test in Paris with medical samples belonging to Dali, but never got the results.

Descharnes’ son, Nicolas, however, said Abel’s paternity claim was proven false. He told Spanish news agency Efe that the doctor who provided the test in Paris confirmed they were negative.

“There is no relationship between this woman and Salvador Dali,” he said.