26 June 2017•Update: 27 June 2017
By Alyssa McMurtry
MADRID
A judge in Madrid has ordered the exhumation of Spanish artist Salvador Dali in an ongoing paternity case, according to Spanish media.
The case surrounds Maria Pilar Abel Martinez, who alleges that her mother, a maid, had a secret affair with the artist in 1955.
The judge has ordered the artist’s body to be exhumed since “no other biological traces or personal objects exist which could be used for evidence,” according to the court order obtained by Spanish news agency Efe.
Dali died in 1989, aged 85, and with no recognized children, he left his inheritance to the Spanish state. Abel Martinez has been fighting since 2007 for her claim in her possible father’s estate, and has brought forth legal action against the Spanish treasury and the Gala-Salvador Dali foundation.
Dali’s body has been resting in his home town of Figueres, Catalonia since his death.
Abel Martinez’s lawyer told Efe that although there is currently no date for the exhumation “it could take place this July.”
