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Legendary Spanish artist Salvador Dali’s body to be exhumed for DNA test

A court earlier upheld the decision to exhume Dali’s body to figure out if he was the father of a woman who filed a lawsuit claiming to be recognized as the painter's daughter

MADRID, July 13. /TASS/. Spanish artist Salvador Dali’s body will be exhumed on July 20 in light of a paternity suit, TASS learned from a source in the city administration of Figueres, Catalonia, in Spain where the painter is buried.

According to the Figueres city administration, the exhumation "has been scheduled for 09:30 local time (07:30 GMT) on July 20." A court earlier upheld the decision to exhume Dali’s body in order to "get the remains’ samples to figure out if he was the father of a woman" who "filed a lawsuit claiming to be recognized as the artist’s daughter.

The woman from Girona (Catalonia), named Pilar Abel, claims that Dali was her father. She was born on February 1, 1956. Since 2007, she has been trying to prove her paternity saying that her mother had had a secret affair with the artist.

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) is considered to be one of the most famous surrealist painters. Over the course of his career, he created hundreds of artistic works.

Dali was married to Elena Diakonova (1894-1982), known as Gala, who originally came from the Russian city of Kazan. The couple had no children. The artist is buried in his Theater-Museum in Figueres, where most of his works are on display.

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