Surreal The Extraordinary Life

"Michele Gerber Klein—at long last—gives Gala Dalí the close-up she deserves. When Gala met Salvador, they met their destinies. Surreal takes us backstage at the endless performance piece that was the couple’s life’s work and life’s play—a salient ingredient—and reshuffles art history along the way. Pour a stiff Pernod or Absinthe, kick back, and enjoy this delightfully sparking read."—Brad Gooch, author of Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring

"Original, engaging, and fiercely intelligent, Gala Dalí has at last inspired a biography that shares her own best qualities. In this brilliant book, Klein illuminates the crucial importance that Gala held not only for her famous husbands and lovers, but for avant-garde art as a whole."—Caroline Weber, author of Proust’s Duchess and Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution

Surreal, the long-awaited, definitive biography of Gala Dalí, unmasks this famous yet little-known queen of the twentieth-century art world, who graced the canvases, inspired the poetry, and influenced the careers of her illustrious lovers and husbands with tenderness, courage, and agency.

Using previously undiscovered material, Surreal tells the riveting story of Gala Dalí, (1894-1982) who broke away from her cultured but penurious background in pre-Revolutionary Russia to live in Paris with both France’s most famous poet Paul Éluard and Max Ernst. By the time she met the budding artist Salvador Dalí in 1929, Gala was known as the Mother of Surrealism. She rapidly became his mentor, muse, and protector, marrying him in 1934 and subsequently engineering their vast fortune. At a time when artists were celebrities, Gala acted as the ambassador of the Surrealist movement, spreading its popularity across the globe. She was the survivor of two world wars, the Russian revolution and the Spanish Civil War, and lived between France, Spain and the U.S. As this definitive Gala Dalí biography reveals, she was a heroine whose originality captivated people wherever she went, and her life story has everything: size; glamour; drama; true love, twisted love; ambition; money; art; defiance; daring and sweeping social unrest. In this vivid, detailed rendering, Michèle Gerber Klein has brought Gala out of the shadows to reveal a charismatic figure who played a pivotal role in 20th century art yet has never received the full recognition she deserves.

This vivid biography uncovers the truth of the woman who shaped Surrealism:

• The Mother of Surrealism: Discover how Gala’s influence extended beyond Salvador Dalí to shape the careers of poet Paul Éluard and artist Max Ernst, placing her at the epicenter of the avant-garde.
• A Business-Minded Muse: Go behind the scenes as Gala masterfully manages Salvador Dalí’s career, transforming his otherworldly talent into a global brand and a vast fortune.
• Russian Roots, Global Reach: Follow her journey from a cultured background in pre-Revolutionary Russia through two world wars and the Spanish Civil War as she becomes a global ambassador for a new kind of art.
• Unseen Archives: Drawing on previously undiscovered letters and materials, this definitive account finally brings the charismatic and complex Gala out of the shadows and into the spotlight she deserves.

Michèle Gerber Klein is an author and journalist, who writes frequently about art and fashion. Her first book, Charles James: Portrait of an Unreasonable Man, was named a Financial Times Best Book of 2018. A columnist for Mann Publications, she has contributed to numerous publications, including The Brooklyn Rail, Cottages and Gardens, and Quest, where her subjects have included Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Lacroix, Tina Barney, Maurizio Cattelan, and Diane Arbus. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she serves as the vice president of the Bertha and Isaac Liberman Foundation and is involved with many arts institutions including the Drawing Center, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum. She lives in New York City.