Updated July 21, 2017 11:26:00

Forensic scientists and legal experts have begun taking DNA samples from the embalmed body of Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali to try to resolve a paternity claim.

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 — claims her mother had an affair with the painter and has been trying to prove she is his daughter for years.

When Dali died in 1989, aged 84, his body was embalmed by Narcis Bardalet, who said attempts to extract DNA were likely to be successful, though "there are also difficulties because [the body] has been embalmed and the formaldehyde could have damaged the nucleus of the cells".

"Getting the samples, that is, molars, teeth, long bones, in order to extract DNA will be easy, because the body will be in a relatively good condition," Mr Bardalet said.

The day before Dali's exhumation, Ms Abel said she was feeling "very positive".

The tarot-card reader said her mother Antonia had said Dali was her father.

Photo: At the time of the alleged affair, Dali was married to his muse Gala. (AP: Eustache Cardenas)

"I asked my mother if Salvador Dali was my father because I said he was a little bit ugly," she said.

"My mother responded, 'Well, he had a certain thing about him. Yes, he was your father'."

At the time of the alleged affair, Dali was married to his muse Gala, who died seven years before the painter.

Gala had a daughter from an earlier marriage but the couple had no children of their own.

Dali's sexuality has long been the topic of speculation.

Photo: Maria Pilar Abel claims her mother had an affair with the painter. (Reuters: Juan Medina)

Only hair, teeth samples to be taken

Enrique Blazquez, Ms Abel's lawyer, said they would only take hair samples or a tooth, in order to try and avoid damaging the body.

"What we are going to try to avoid is that the body gets damaged because it is an embalmed corpse," he said.

"We are not going to allow the removal of long bones, no bones from the body apart from the teeth.

"I imagine that there won't be any problem with taking hair samples, if necessary, or a tooth.

"We don't consider that disrespectful to the body of Salvador Dali which is embalmed, we don't want to damage it if it is not necessary."

Mr Blazquez said if Ms Abel's claim was proved valid, she would be entitled to a quarter share of the estate, including copyright and paintings.

Photo: Dali's remains are interred in a crypt under the stage of the domed Theatre-Museum in Figueras. (Reuters: Albert Gea)

'I am not at all worried about it': Abel

As for Ms Abel, she said she was more interested in discovering the DNA results and was not thinking about the process afterwards.

"I am not at all worried about it," she said.

"I am more interested in that they give me the DNA results. The process after that will come when it has to come."

Ms Abel's court litigation started in 2015 when she sued the Ministry of Finance, as the trustee of Dali's estate, and the Gala Dali Foundation that was created to administer it.

Dali's remains are interred in a crypt under the stage of the domed Theatre-Museum in Figueras, which houses some of his art works and paintings he collected.

It may take weeks before the results of the DNA tests are known.

Photo: Soft self-portrait with grilled bacon, 1941, is an example of Dali's surrealist style, of which he was a pioneer. (National Gallery of Victoria)

AP/Reuters

Topics: death, community-and-society, human-interest, arts-and-entertainment, art-history, spain

First posted July 21, 2017 08:16:04