Figueres (Spain): Forensic experts in Spain have removed hair, nails and two long bones from Salvador Dali’s embalmed remains to find genetic samples for a paternity test—a move that opens the possibility for a woman who says she is the surrealist artist’s daughter to claim part of the Dali estate. His body was taken from the place of burial, the Dalí Museum Theatre in Figueres, Spain, and samples of hair, nail, teeth and bones were taken to extract DNA. Dalí, who died in 1989 at the age of 84, is buried under the crystal dome of the Dalí Theatre Museum in Figueres in the north of Spain, around 90 miles outside of Barcelona. We suggested it take place during closing time and this was accepted.”

The woman who says Dalí was her father, Maria Pilar Abel, was born in 1956, and claims her mother had an affair with the painter in the 1950s while she was working for his family. Last month a Madrid judge ordered the exhumation to settle the claim and today a 1.5-tonne slab covering Dali’s tomb will be raised in order to reach his body. It is contested by the Dalí foundation, which manages the estate of the artist, who was not believed to have had any children.
The remains of surrealist painter Salvador Dalí are exhumed following a Madrid court order on settling the paternity claim of a woman who is allegedly the painter's natural daughter. Various experts contest the claim, noting Dalí's sexual eccentrism (including a public boast about his "impotency") and that the action being against the state (Dalí bequeathed his estate to Spain). If proven, this woman could assume part of Dalí's estate.