He was a chauvinist.

She was a feminist.

Not a good combination

He had a phobia of female gentalia

She enjoyed sex and looked elsewhere for it……..often!

Really not a good combination!

And yet they remained married for 53 years.

How? Or more to the point, why?

Mainly because he idolized her. She was for Dali everything – a muse, a wife, and she even became a cult. That would work!

And because he bought a castle for her, that would help too.

He had it renovated to his instructions, and then he furnished and decorated it. It was a labor of love. She repaid him by telling him that whenever she was there, he had to write to her and ask permission to visit. And he accepted that. He must have really adored her!

They basically lived apart.

That definitely explains the 53 years.

Her name was Elena Ivanovna Diakonova. She was Russian. And we know what those Russian women are like. And everyone called her Gala. She was the only woman Salvador Dali ever loved, and maybe the only woman he liked. He surrounded himself with men.

And this is Gala’s Castle. As medieval castles go, it is pretty unimpressive.

Actually calling it a castle seems a little over the top. But it does have a turret, be it ever so small. See if you can spot it in the background

And calling it a castle definitely adds a little something. We are talking about Dali here. He was an expert at self promotion.

But be it a castle or not, Dali turned it into something beautiful. The rooms were much bigger than Dali’s home, and he showed remarkable restraint in decorating them, although the ceiling was perhaps a little over the top

And the throne beneath it was seriously over the top

But, I want one – it would be perfect for receiving dinner guests.

Dali went to extraordinary lengths to make everything about the house a display of his love for Gala. He designed much of the furniture. This table and lamp for instance

And the fireplace to go with it

He even designed the faucets (taps for those English readers) for the bathroom

They do rather overshadow the basin.

But the most significant gesture was that, unlike his own house. he didn’t overload the place with clutter. And there wasn’t a stuffed animal to be seen.

Well that’s not quite true. There is one – a stuffed horse. But it is sort of hidden. The coffee table that I just showed you has a glass top, and when you look down on it you can see the horse

And Dali couldn’t resist adding just one touch of whimsy

But other than that, there were very few Dali touches, which must have been hard for him. But for Gala, he wanted something much grander, something that would be worthy of a castle.

Even the garden was restrained,

And of course there had to be some strange statue to show that Dali really had designed it.

Have you seen Star Wars?!

It has been said that there were only two people Dali truly loved. The first was himself and the second was Gala.

And yet she preferred to live apart.

But then she died.

And finally Dali had control.

He renovated a cellar below the Gala house, and left strict instructions of what was to be done when he died.

Salvador and Gala Dali would never again be separated. They would lie side by side for eternity, watched over by a giraffe and giant chess pieces

Life was a game. A very complicated one.

And this was check mate!