DalĂ and Gala grew estranged in their last years, but when she died in 1982 at the age of 87, he was cast into a state of maniacal panic and deep depression.
December 15th saw the New York debut by Ballet International of Mad Tristan, the first paranoiac ballet about the eternal legend of love in death.
The art world, however, increasingly viewed him as a commercial artist and his work was greeted with tepid enthusiasm and, often, outright suspicion.