Salvador Dalí's casket -- located inside The Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueras -- was unearthed on Thursday, July 20, to collect samples of his remains. A woman claiming to be his daughter stirred up so much controversy that the Madrid Supreme Court gave the green light last month to schedule an exhumation in order to close this case and prove or disprove her claims.
Who is this woman?
The woman is 61-year-old Maria Pilar Abel, daughter to one of Dalí's former maids. She claims that the artist had an affair with her mother Antonia -- who used to be employed at his home in Portlligat -- back in 1955.
She also claims that both her mother and grandmother have told her time and again since childhood that she is indeed the surrealist painter's daughter.
Abel is not a new face to the Madrid court, for her family has been trying to prove the truth about her paternity for over a decade now. She had previously tried to complete a paternity test in 2007 with DNA found from the late painter's belongings. That test's results proved inconclusive, so the only reliable source of remains left was found at Dalí's own burial site. After much controversy, the Madrid Supreme Court finally ruled in June of this year that an exhumation be scheduled for July 20, 2017.
Is it likely?
Many seem to think not. Biographers agree that Dalí feared his own sexuality -- feared that he was homosexual or impotent.
He was notorious for covering up this fear by boasting that he was, in fact, impotent -- that great painters like him needed to be.
Dalí was married to Gala for over fifty years, but the two never lived together in the same house. Despite five decades with each other, he never fathered any children with her.
Another two weeks until results
After forensic experts exhumed Dalí's mummified remains, officials said that the painter was so well-embalmed that even his famous "ten past ten" mustache had sustained after almost thirty years. Despite amazement at the state of his remains, people are still upset that the body had to be dug up at all.
The court case ruling was controversial due to being intrusive toward the painter as well as to the museum itself. If Abel's claims are disproved, the Dalí Foundation will seek full compensation from her for the exhumation.
It will take around two weeks until results from the Dna Test are verified. If Abel is indeed proven to be the painter's biological daughter, she will inherit a fourth of the Dalí estate as well as the right to assume his surname.
