What was Gala’s birth name before she became Salvador Dalí’s wife and muse?

Gala’s birth name before she became Salvador Dalí’s wife and muse was Elena Ivanovna Diakonova.

She was born in Kazan, Russia, in 1894 and later became widely known as Gala. During her early adult life, she moved in literary and artistic circles in Europe. She married the poet Paul Éluard in 1917, and the couple became associated with the Surrealist movement.

Gala met Salvador Dalí in 1929 while she was still married to Éluard. She and Dalí formed a lasting partnership, and they married in a civil ceremony in 1934 before marrying again in a Catholic ceremony in 1958. Gala became a central figure in Dalí’s personal life, business affairs, and artistic mythology.

Her name is sometimes shortened in reference works, but Elena Ivanovna Diakonova is the full birth name most commonly given in biographies. “Gala” was her adopted name, not her original given name.