By Paul Chimera

Salvador Dali Historian/Writer

I recently came across a painting, posted on Facebook, by an artist named Nikola Golubovski. It depicts an image of Salvador Dali as a large snail, being ridden like a bull by Gala.

It reminded me of how powerfully controlling Gala was in ensuring that the Dali engine was kept fully fueled and actively running – making lots of art and lots of money!

Dali needed Gala most of his life. In the early years of their relationship, some – including Dali himself – credited her with keeping the artist on the safer side of that hair-thin line between madness and genius. And, of course, Gala was an undeniable inspiration and motivator in Dali’s career. He literally worshipped the woman. Her presence in his life fueled his creative engine, pushing him on to a remarkably prodigious artistic career.

Finally, Gala served as the subject for countless paintings, drawings, watercolors and prints by the leading figure in Surrealism. Certainly some of Dali’s greatest achievements at the easel saw Gala assuming a leading or major role. Just a few examples include Portrait of Gala with Rhinocerotic Symptoms; The Angelus of Gala; Portrait of Gala with Lamb Chops Balanced on Her Shoulder; Galarina; Corpus Hypercubus; The Ecumenical Council, and The Madonna of Port Lligat, among countless others.

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 A ‘WTF’ Moment . . .

It came to my attention earlier this week that a most outrageous and inexcusable spelling travesty concerning Salvador Dali’s name appeared in a front-page headline in a publication called Antique Week. In the monthly paper’s Nov. 13, 2017 issue, the following headline ran:

The Surrealist World of Artist Salvadore Dahli

The piece occupied the entire front page and then jumped to a full inside page.

It pains me a bit when I see Dali’s first name spelled with an “e” at the end. It hurts a little more when I see “Salvatore” with both the “e” at the end and a “t” where a “d” should be. But it is a complete tsunami to see “Dahli” with an “h” in there! I don’t understand how such an egregious error could have survived whatever editing/proofreading system that publication employs.

Your humble blogger will be contacting Antique Week shortly to inquire as to how this could have happened. Does it alter the course of history or the present state of our often crazy world? Of course not. But is it a WTF moment? It sure is.

UPDATE!!!  ….  I just today received this email response from the editor of Antique Week:

Thanks for emailing. It was definitely an embarrassing day when that got by our proofreading department. Unfortunately, mistakes happen and that’s why there was an error in the headline.