Salvador Dali's body to be exhumed after affair claim

A judge has ordered that the remains of Spanish painter Salvador Dalí be exhumed after a woman claimed to be the daughter of the world-famous artist.

Spanish woman Maria Pilar Abel Martinez claims the surrealist painter is her father after he reportedly had an affair with a maid in 1955.

The court in Madrid has ruled that his body be exhumed and examined as there are no biological remains or personal objects to be used in a paternity test, according to the BBC.

Mr Dali is buried in Figueras, a city in the northeast corner of Spain and less than 15 miles from the French border.

He was born there in 1904 and died in 1989 having suffered a heart failure.

Ms Martinez first claimed the world-renowned painter was her father in 2015.

According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, Ms Martinez was told by her grandmother that her mother had a clandestine relationship with Dali.

Her mother was working in the Spanish village Port-Lligat in the 1950s when they allegedly struck up an affair.

If it is proved she is the daughter of the famous painter, Ms Martinez would win the right to bear his surname and to his copyright, El Pais reported.

The court has said the decision could be appealed.