DNA tests on the exhumed body of Salvador Dali have proved that the Spanish woman who brought a legal case is not the surrealist artist’s daughter.

According to a statement released on Wednesday by Dali’s foundation, the court supervising the tests had informed its lawyers that the woman, Pilar Abel, was not Dali’s biological daughter.

A spokesman for the court declined to confirm the results of the DNA tests.

The Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation said the Madrid court that ordered the DNA test informed it that Ms Abel, a 61-year-old tarot card reader, has no biological relationship with Dali.

Ms Abel had claimed her mother had an affair with Dali while working as his maid and she had the right to part of his vast estate.

The foundation said it was happy the “absurd” claim had been resolved.

A judicial spokesman told AP the court did not made the test results public but informed the parties in the lawsuit.

He spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with court rules.

Forensic experts removed hair, nails and two long bones from Dali’s embalmed remains in July. 

Ms Abel claimed Dali had an affair with her mother. Photo: Getty

The foundation, which manages Dali’s estate on behalf of the Spanish state, said at the time of the exhumation that Dali’s remains – including his famous moustache – were well-preserved and mummified after an embalming process almost 30 years ago.

The Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation said the artist’s remains will be returned to his coffin, which is buried in the Dali Museum Theatre in Figueres, the north-eastern Spanish town of his birth.

Ms Abel said her grandmother revealed the family secret when many years ago and that her mother confirmed the story some years later.

Dali, who died in 1989 aged 84, was one of the 20th century’s most famous and easily recognised artists.

His paintings include The Persistence of Memory, with its iconic images of melting clocks, and he also turned his hand to movies, sculpture and advertising.

-With agencies