Why we still need women's history month

Gala Dalí deserves (a lot) more credit

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.

Power couple

Dalí himself wouldn’t have objected to this classification— “without Gala, I would no longer be Dalí,” he told an interviewer. “I have achieved my worldwide success solely with the help of God, the light of Emporia, and the heroic daily abnegation of a sublime woman, my wife, Gala,” he wrote publicly elsewhere.

With my head buzzing with the powerhouse that Gala was, imagine my surprise when not two days after I finished the book, I read this article on artnet about the “Dalí Aesthetic,” a trend which is apparently making a splash on the Internet.

Do a quick CNTRL + F and tell me if you can find the name of Gala Dalí, that “sublime woman.”

She is nowhere to be found.

It would be one thing if Gala were a wife who didn’t concern herself with her husband’s business affairs. Or if she were an artist with a separate practice. But she made things happen: The Royal Heart, a piece of jewellery mentioned in the article, was a gift for Gala, which Salvador made for her after she said she wanted a “ruby heart that beats.” The shoe hat by Schiaparelli (also mentioned) was inspired by a photograph taken by Gala, in which Salvador wears her shoe on his head. And the famous sofa in the shape of Mae West’s lips? Well, Gala built the relationship with Edward James, which would eventually lead to the collaboration (and financing) that lead to the sofa.

She negotiated contracts, drove Salvador around (he never learned to drive), gave interviews, and made sure they were in the right place at the right time with the right people.

In other words, Gala was everywhere.

Somehow, still, in 2025, women’s accomplishments are not just diminished, but in too many instances they simply don’t exist, cut whole cloth from the record.

Read enough articles like the one on artnet, and you can’t help but think every month should be women’s history month.

*The book, Surreal: The Extraordinary Life of Gala Dalí by Michèle Gerber Klein, comes out April 1st— you can preorder it here. (Getting free books early is one of the few, but still significant! perks of writing about art.)