[Courtesy of Tanya Dobraya / Pixabay]
DNA testing results finally released to settle the claim that startled the world. Maria Pilar Abel Martinez, a 61-year-old tarot card reader from Spain, stepped out into the spotlight unexpectedly claiming that she was Salvador Dali's daughter.
The Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali's body was ordered to be exhumed for a paternity test on Monday, 28 years after his death.
Martinez appealed to the Madrid Court that she is a biological daughter of the renown Spanish painter. According to her statement, her mother, Antonio Martinez, and Dali had an affair during his marriage to his wife, Gala. Dali was 51 years old and Martinez was 25 years old at the time. Martinez later married another man in her hometown, Figueres.
To obtain sufficient DNA sample to settle this claim, the exhumation was unavoidable despite the Gala Dali Foundation's repeal.
If Martinez was proven to be Dali's biological daughter, she could have 25% of the rights over Dali's estate and his works and could change her surname to Dali.
However, the DNA test result proved that Maria Pilar Abel Martinez from Girona, Spain is not a biological offspring of Salvador Dali. Gala Dali Foundation said in a statement on Wednesday that the finding was not a surprise "since at no time has there been any evidence of the veracity of an alleged paternity."
Martinez did not officially come out with a statement and an explanation yet. Dali's remains will be returned to his resting place at the Dali's Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain, according to the foundation statement.
After the claim is settled, Gala Dali will remain as Dali's artistic muse. Salvador and Gala Dali tied the knot in a civil ceremony in 1934 and sanctified it in 1958 by the Vatican. However, their marriage was an unusual one as Dali had a phobia of female genitalia due to early exposure to grotesque images of untreated STD by his father. The couple agreed to maintain an open marriage, allowing the couple to explore different alternatives. Gala stayed in a castle in Girona and had a series of affairs. Dali was only allowed to visit his wife upon her invitation. Dali's sexual preference was questioned also throughout his life due to his close relationship with his friend and a poet, Federico Garcia Lorca. However, Dali denied the claim. He was said to be only engaged in masturbation because of his fear of physical contact.
Kwak, Min Jung = abiel@ajunews.com
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