Spanish fortune teller is not Salvador Dalí’s daughter, DNA test confirms
Famous artist’s body was recently exhumed amid great controversy to check claim by Pilar Abel
Pilar Abel Martínez is not the daughter of the painter Salvador Dalí. The comparison of the DNA samples taken from the artist’s corpse, whose remains were exhumed on July 23, with those of Abel – a 61-year-old from Girona, in the northeastern region of Catalonia, and who claimed to be his daughter – prove that there is no relationship between them. The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation announced the results of the tests in a statement in which it emphasized that the analysis “excludes Salvador Dalí as the biological father of María Pilar Abel Martínez,” who works as a television psychic.
Martínez – who was born in 1956 in Figueres, the same town in northwestern Spain where Dalí was born – has been publicly claiming to be the famous painter’s daughter since 2007. She says that her mother told her that she had a secret affair with Dalí.
Whatever the result: positive or negative, I will continue to be Pilar Pilar Abel Martínez
Two laboratories at the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences carried out the test and both came out negative. “At no time has there been any indication of the validity of alleged paternity,” said sources from the organization that manages the painter’s legacy.
“Whatever the result: positive, negative or null, I will give a press conference to explain it,” said Abel in a phone call with EL PAÍS “I’m freaking out. If it comes out negative, I will continue to be Pilar.”
The result of the analysis provides grounds for the foundation to maintain that “the unusual and unjustified judicial decision to allow the exhumation is confirmed as totally inadequate and disproportionate, revealing its utter inadmissibility and the futility of the costs and damages of any kind has been caused.” And they reiterate that they were always against the exhuming of the body and now want to take action against the judge who ordered it.
The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation declared it “an absurd end to an artificial controversy”
The judge considered the exhumation of Dalí’s corpse necessary to be able to study his DNA, in the absence of other biological or personal remains. The proof was considered essential for the trial scheduled for September 18, where Abel hoped to be recognized as the artist’s daughter. She intended to bear his surname and inherit 25% of his estate.
With the result of the tests, the foundation declared it “an absurd end to an artificial controversy.” The mortal remains of Dalí that were extracted at the end of July (nails, a tooth, and two long bones) will soon be restored. His corpse will now be interred for a third time.
English version by Debora Almeida.
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