Gala Dalí: Spain’s First Topless Sunbather in Torremolinos

Gala Dali in Torremolinos,

Perching unassuming and with quiet confidence on the western end of Playa Bajondillo Torremolinos is a statue of a bare chested woman… The monument's subject is Gala Dali. The wife, muse, agent and free spirit and reportedly the first documented topless sunbather in Spain!

Salvador & Gala were holidaying and creating Torremolinos in the year 1930. Before the civil war that created an exodus of bohemians and artists from Spain, before the coast became a global destination and even before the bikini was invented, the couple visited ‘the village’

Gala, a trailblazer spent time on the beaches topless, adorned only with a headscarf, pendant and shorts - a shock to the fisherman in this sleepy backwater town. At the time Spain was deeply conservative and Catholic. 

Gala & Dali. The pair were together for 53 years.

Although when I visited the statue it was due a good scrub, her timeless gaze out into the ocean, a woman content in herself …enjoying the virtues is a poignant reminder of the simple power of a woman. How much controversy she can create just by being! Gala was a tour de force, without who Dali would not have been Dali, the world has a lot to owe this woman!

During the Franco regime, women were deeply affected. They could no longer have a job or own a property without their husbands permission and many roles were legally barred.

Although the civil war was still to come and decades of dictatorship, this statue reminds us of the spirit of resistance and freedom that exists in the most unusual of places. It is touching to know in a world of disposable culture and people not always realising or knowing the gravity of the acts of those who walked before them, that small monuments exist in unexpected places as act of remembrance and inspiration.

I also loved the fact a colony of cats resides in the rocks adds to the artistic ambience and easels are placed for sketchers and painters.

If you're a lover of art history, acts of resistance, women's liberation or just happen to be in Playa Bajondillo , this is a worthwhile pilgrimage.

Find her here: https://g.co/kgs/VLHpJHc

Fun Fact: Dali created his piece ´the invisible man´ during this time, which ironically enough deals with his fear of sex and now hangs in the Reina Sofia museum, Madrid.