Surreal: The Extraordinary Life Of Gala Dalí

"What is the value of a muse? That’s the central question of Michèle Gerber Klein’s biography of Gala Dalí, “Surreal.” Dalí was known as “the Mother of Surrealism,” but as with so many influential women, her role was deliberately unseen.

"Gerber Klein, who previously wrote a vivid biography of the designer Charles James, relishes illustrating the power dynamics at play in burgeoning art scenes. She concludes that Gala Dalí was more than a muse and more than a partner — that what she did was unquantifiable."

"Gala Dalí moves onto center stage in Michèle Gerber Klein’s biography “Surreal.” The diminutive Russian was far more than a muse and manager, Ms. Klein writes. She was an artist as well, and her most enduring creation was Salvador, the mustachioed visage of Surrealism, the dreamy, fantastical cultural movement that began bewitching Europe in the 1920s.

“Ms. Klein ably sifts the performative from the genuine… her thorough sleuthing piles up evidence for Gala’s legacy. Unsung no longer, the Svengali behind Surrealism’s antics gets her due.”

20 New Books Coming in April 

“Muse, creator, survivor, godmother of Surrealism: Who, exactly, was Gala Dali? Klein, whose last book cast new light on the designer Charles James, brings out the creative, tempestuous, multifaceted woman behind the famous husbands and lovers in this new biography.”

"'Gala Dalí was neither a miser nor just a vixen,' Klein says. 'I tried to portray her as a real human being instead of just a sound bite.' The result is the first serious, deeply researched biography of a woman long overshadowed by the men she inspired. Drawing on untranslated diaries, previously unexamined archives, and interviews with Gala’s granddaughter and former confidantes, Klein restores agency and dimension to a figure often flattened by history.

"There was never just one genius in the Dalí household. This revealing biography of the incredibly influential but often overlooked Gala Dalí dives into the life of the woman who was known as the Mother of Surrealism, and explores how her taste in culture, art, and fashion, paired with her sharp mind for business, helped influence generations of artists and their admirers, and created a roadmap for creative collaboration that was decades ahead of its time."

"During the five years spent researching and writing the Harper Collins-published page-turner, Gerber Klein managed to connect with a few sources that had never spoken to biographers of Dalí before, including William Rothlein (who was her lover later in life), her granddaughter Claire Sarti and the famed talk show host Dick Cavett.

"The Dalís were so famous that they hired a clipping service to keep track of all their media coverage, but that abundance of information made some people use it, 'however they chose to,' which led to 'tons of misinformation.'”

"Klein paints a textured, comprehensive portrait of the “mother of Surrealism,” depicting her subject as an intuitive, dynamic force who harnessed her good taste and keen eye to “spot promise and coax it into bloom.” The author also provides an intriguing look into the growth of the Surrealist movement and the unseen power dynamics that underlie how art gets made and who gets credit. Enriched by a novelist’s flair for detail, it’s a worthy tribute to an enigmatic figure in art history."

“An overdue, comprehensive biography of a Surrealist instigator. Klein’s account of one of the driving forces of the Surrealist movement is wonderfully thorough and rescues Gala Dalí from being cast in the role of 'mere' muse, reclaiming her as the definitive artist and collaborator she was...convincingly demonstrates how Gala was a singular player in the development of a major 20th-century art movement…”

"Michèle Gerber Klein’s biography of Gala Dalí...canters rather than stumbles – one might read it in a weekend...it does fully live up to Klein’s promise of extraordinariness, taking us from poverty in Kazan, where Gala was born, to a more bohemian milieu in Moscow; to life in the Parisian literary and artistic avant-garde; to marriage, money, parties, hats, castles, meetings with the crowned heads of Europe, dinners in tony Manhattan restaurants and more."

"History hasn't been kind to Salvador Dalí's imperious wife and fixer, Gala. But her biography is remarkable: She grew up in czarist Russia and, once she moved to France, took multiple surrealist celebrities (Paul Éluard, Max Ernst) as romantic partners before marrying Dalí and ruling his lucrative artistic empire. This lively, sympathetic book paints her as both a creature of her time and a forerunner of a more entrepreneurial art world."

"In an era where personal branding has become a widespread obsession, Gala’s life story is emblematic of the heights to which it can be taken. “You could say that Gala wrote the book on self-branding—from the chapter on scandalous behavior to the essay on unforgettable appearance and a personality that kept people talking, Gala combined self-promotion with a good deal of knowledge and a very sharp intelligence...She and Dalí were constantly refining their artistic practice to keep pace with whatever decade they lived in… If she were alive now, I am sure Gala would excel at social media.”

"The art-obsessed mum will enjoy this new release from New York-based writer Michele Gerber Klein on the fascinating life of Gala Dali. Using previously undiscovered material, Klein brings Dali’s life out from the shadows of her famous husband – from pre-revolutionary Russia to living in Paris with first husband Paul Eluard and Max Ernst and how she came to earn the title 'mother of Surrealism'."

"I just finished reading a biography of Gala Dalí, the woman who was not only Salvador Dalí’s wife for almost 50 years, but his agent, marketer, manager, collaborator, and muse. She was behind the enormous commercial success he achieved, from collaborations with Schiaparelli, to placement in major personal collections, to prominent features in magazines and in headlines of major newspapers, which seemingly chronicled the couple’s every move."

“Despite being relegated by dismissively misogynistic language (Tim McGirk named his 1989 biography of her Wicked Lady), she is a historical lynchpin, a fundamental connector. In Surreal: The Extraordinary Life of Gala Dalí, author Michèle Gerber Klein doesn’t argue for her place in history but merely presents the facts, leaving us no choice but to conclude how absurd it is that Gala’s name is not as well known as that of her husband of nearly five decades, Salvador Dalí, something the artist himself would likely have never considered.”

"Klein is the first to chart Gala’s roller-coaster life in full, from her creativity and sense of style to her social acumen, PR genius, cosmopolitan perspective, literary talent, 'Midas Touch,' health issues, and the risks of such enormous success and notoriety.

"Klein portrays Gala with exceptional fluidity, detailing the nuances of emotions, relationships, and artistic breakthroughs in a captivating, luminary-filled, grandly clarifying appreciation of an essential yet long-cloaked figure in twentieth-century art."

"Gala became Salvador’s artistic guide, muse, financial manager, and, in 1934, wife. For the next 42 years, Gala brought her vision to Salvador’s technical mastery as he conjured their dreams into reality on canvas. In 1931 he signed her name with his below the melting watches in The Persistence of Memory, which would become his most well-known work.

Always an active participant in Salvador’s practice, — she was, as Salvador said, 'the unique mythological woman of her time.'”

About what drew her to the subject, Gerber Klein said: “Surrealism revolutionized art as the world knew it, moving it away from religious or sentimental representation into the kingdoms of intuition and psychic perception, pushing hard against accepted norms. At its center stood Gala — the ‘bad girl’ who not only got away with out-of-the-box behavior, but triumphed because of it. Despite her limited education, she overcame emotional and financial setbacks so successfully that she deeply influenced the cultural history of her decades and beyond. Gala was fierce, tender, and intrepid — I find that a compelling combination.”

"This 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.

Gala 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."

"Author Michelle Gerber Klein details how, after living through two world wars, the Russian Revolution, and the Spanish Civil War, Gala Dalí became more than just a muse, but an influencer of cultural history herself.

"According to Gerber Klein, Dalí's father said that Salvador would have been living under a bridge somewhere if he had not met Gala."

"Mining a trove of newly uncovered material, Klein brings the extraordinary and enigmatic life of Gala Dalí—wife and muse of Salvador, as an art world mover and shaker who championed Surrealism—out of the shadows and into the much-deserved limelight." 

"The well researched book deep dives into every trip, residence, artwork, friend and associate...Gala was clearly a force with which to be reckoned..."