- Title: Exhumation of Salvador Dali's grave begins
- Date: 20th July 2017
- Summary: FIGUERAS, SPAIN (JULY 20, 2017) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** FACADE OF DALI THEATRE AND MUSEUM VARIOUS OF FORENSIC DOCTORS ARRIVING AT DALI MUSEUM AND CARRYING A BOX WHERE REMAINS WILL BE PUT DURING THE EXHUMATION VARIOUS OF JUDICIAL OFFICIALS ARRIVING FOR EXHUMATION VARIOUS OF ALLEGED DAUGHTER PILAR ABEL'S LAWYER, ENRIQUE BLANQUEZ, ARRIVING JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE MUSEUM BLANQUEZ SPEAKING WITH MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ENRIQUE BLANQUEZ, PILAR ABEL'S LAWYER, SAYING: "Following protocol we would also have to extract samples from her mother to verify the maternity, which there is no doubt about. It would be examined, everything would be cross-checked and finally the toxicological institute would emit a positive or negative result." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE DALI'S MUSEUM (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPANISH CITIZEN CESAR MARCHA, 45, SAYING: "If she has reached this point there must be evidence and proof that it may be true, although that doesn't mean that it is true. I don't know if this lady has siblings and they could have checked the DNA of both of them to see if the father is the same or not, in that case there may be evidence that it's true." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE DALI'S MUSEUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM GERMANY, UTAH ENKEL, SAYING: "That's one thought you get if you hear about this (that Abel is after money). If she only wants to know if he's her daddy, she will get the result and it's fine, but what she will do once she knows it is her dad, then she wants to earn a lot of money." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE DALI'S MUSEUM (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LOCAL RESIDENT JOSEP SERRA, 50, SAYING: "Dali always made a show of his own life, he was a person who sold himself very well and I believe that he would be delighted with all this media frenzy because after 28 years Dali sees the light again although he's embalmed." VARIOUS OF DALI MUSEUM EXTERIOR
- Embargoed: 3rd August 2017 21:10
- Keywords: paternity test Pilar Abel grave alleged daughter exhumation Dali Theatre and Museum Figueras DNA Dali Salvador Dali
- Location: FIGUERAS, SPAIN
- City: FIGUERAS, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Art,Crime/Law/Justice,Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA0016QIWLS7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Forensic experts began the exhumation of Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali on Thursday (June 20) evening to extract DNA samples in a bid to resolve a long-running paternity claim.
Mustachioed Dali, whose dream-like paintings and eccentric lifestyle made him one of the 20th century's most famous artists, died in 1989, aged 84.
Maria Pilar Abel, who was born in 1956 in the northern Spanish town of Figueras - Dali's home town and the place he is buried - has claimed her mother had an affair with the painter and has long sought to prove she is his daughter.
Dali's remains were being disinterred from a crypt under the stage of the domed Theatre-Museum in Figueras, which houses some of his art works and paintings he collected following a court order to exhume the remains in June. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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