About the Book

"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 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. 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. 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 the art world yet has never received the full recognition she deserves.

Critical Praise

“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…” — Kirkus Reviews

"Michele Gerber Klein—at long last—gives Gala Dalí the close-up she deserves. When Gala met Salvador, they met their destinies. The more she erased herself in marrying the soon-to-be world-famous Surrealist, the more she recreated herself as muse, fan wife, money manager, life coach, artistic collaborator, and model for some of the most sensuous portraits of a mature woman ever painted. 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

"Gerber Klein’s exquisitely portrayed and wickedly amusing account is a romp through the annals and escapades of an avant-garde movement that profoundly informs artistic discourse today. The life of Gala Dalí offers a through line of the Surrealist movement linking many of its key artists and writers. Intimate tales of Salvador and Gala Dalí, André Breton, Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, Tristan Tzara, and Federico García Lorca abound. As wife, lover, muse, model, artist, collaborator, performer, chronicler, editor, designer, publicist, and entrepreneur, Gala’s unique hybrid role initially repelled but ultimately deeply influenced her period’s male-dominated cultural clique." — Adam D. Weinberg, Director Emeritus, Whitney Museum of American Art

"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

"Echoing her subject’s vim, at a fast clip that never lags and often surprises, Michèle Gerber Klein shows how Gala Dalí put the 'extra' in her extraordinary, century-defining life. Designer, author, model, fashion icon, mother, publicist, business partner, architect of her husband’s career—Gala’s ambitions took over whatever room and role she found herself in. Surreal is a spirited journey around the world and through a life that was an enigmatic work of art." — Prudence Peiffer, author of The Slip and director of content at MoMA, New York

"This compelling biography explores the making of Gala Dalí, a force of life who was not only ahead of her time and but a pivotal figure within Surrealism's creative maelstrom. More than fascinating expose of Gala's life and times, Surreal sheds new light on the artistic themes that resonate so powerfully with generations of artists that have followed, including those with whom I have a heartfelt connection." — Manuela Wirth, Chairwoman and President of Hauser & Wirth

"A vivid portrait of a formidable woman who was by turns an inspiration, a force, a muse, lover, and a tiger." — Daphne Merkin, author of 22 Minutes of Unconditional Love

"This talented British couturier, pioneer of the spiral-cut dress and the puffer jacket, is often overlooked today. This uproarious biography rectifies all that, introducing us to the ne plus ultra of queeny fashion designers while taking us on a gossipy tour of transatlantic high society." — Financial Times on Charles James (Named a Best Book of 2018)

"James seems to have met, befriended, loved, or reviled most of the 20th century’s great fashion and style makers, from Paul Poiret to Antonio Lopez, and this book is a Who’s Who of those glittering, fascinating characters. The impossible Mr. James emerges as one of the most compelling of them all." — Hamish Bowles, Vogue, on Charles James

"Peppered with society drama, his patrician connections, and the financial and personal pitfalls that haunted him, she also memorializes the remarkable women that inspired the creative genius of James. The author draws on close to 40 hours of interviews filmed by Anton Perich, with R. Couri Hay and James, in 1977—shortly before his death." — Jeena Sharma, Interview, on Charles James

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Product Details

• ISBN: 9780063220577
• ISBN 10: 0063220571
• Imprint: Harper
• On Sale: 04/01/2025
• Pages: 336
• List Price:39.50 CAD
• BISAC1 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Artists, Architects, Photographers
• BISAC2 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women
• BISAC3 : HISTORY / Women

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