The couple had an open marriage and Éluard took pleasure in introducing Gala to new lovers including Ernst who left his wife to join the couple in a sometimes fraught ménage a trois. Ernst included her in his 1922 painting of leading figures within the Surrealists, Les Rendez Vous des Amis, the only woman among a group of men. Gala stares out of the canvas with the leonine eyes which proved capable of mesmerising men well into her 70s.

Ernst and Éluard may have loved her but Breton saw her as a rival who stole some of his power over the men in the group. His aversion was an undeniable contribution to Gala’s bad reputation, especially after her break up with Éluard.

That break up was in many ways Éluard’s fault as it was he who introduced her to Dalí on a trip to the Catalonian town of Cadaqués in 1929. He undoubtedly thought any romance would be a temporary affair but Gala’s infatuation would prove to be enduring. She had an uncanny ability to see beyond the strangely handsome young man’s hysterical laughter and scatological humour, which had proved wearying in the extreme to the other guests.