Portrait of Gala, 1935 by Salvador Dali

Portrait of Gala, 1935 by Salvador Dali
Portrait of Gala, 1935 by Salvador Dali

In The Angelus of Gala, behind Gala, hangs a version of The Angelas, the painting by Millet that so obsessed Dali; and the two people in the room apparently front-Gala and back-Gala - are juxtaposed in roughly the same fashion as the peasants in the picture. But on this occasion Dali has outrageously distorted Millet's composition, putting the peasants into a wheelbarrow (presumably as a form of erotic union) and altering the woman's attitude to increase the resemblance to a praying mantis that Dali claimed to find in the original; presumably she is about to copulate with the man and then to devour him.

By contrast, both Galas appear calm and untroubled, perhaps reflecting Dali's conviction that she had been his savior from sexual confusion and madness.