Is Dalí's Art a Genetic Mutation? Let's Go to the DNA!

In the annals of weird stories about Salvador Dalí, this could be one of the weirdest:

Forensic scientist Michael Rieders revealed at the annual meeting of the Academy of Forensic Sciences in San Antonio that he had taken DNA samples from 19 places on two feeding tubes that had been in Dalí's nose in 1984.

To what use might Dalí's purported nasal DNA be put? According to the London Guardian, it might provide "clues to his artistic genius. Perhaps he had a mild form of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder which fueled his creativity."

Why didn't Matisse biographer Hilary Spurling think of this?

But wait, there's more: Guardian reporter James Randerson notes that Rieders, a toxicologist and lab director at NMS Labs, Willow Grove, Pa., has a more commercial application in mind for the swabbed samples:

"Dalí collectors will want to use the DNA profile to help establish whether the huge amount of supposed Dalí paraphernalia [including purported Dalí artworks] that exists is real. There are many Dalí objects out there, some on eBay, that are claimed to have been in the possession of Dalí," said Dr. Rieders.

"Let's be clear about this," he added. "I have no intention of creating a cloned army of surrealist artists."

That's a relief! Come to think of it, though, Dalí might actually have liked that form of propagation.