Art-o-Gram: Picasso – The Artist, Life and Love – Scene 6

Picasso's life and his loves – especially regarding Picasso's relationship with women – is an endless topic on which serious art historians and agitated feminists, outraged petit bourgeois and imaginative cookbook authors, confused social scientists and envious tabloid journalists have expressed themselves exhaustively from virtually every conceivable point of view.

The artist's lifestyle and relationships with women have already been thoroughly dissected, and it's probably not that important who shared which bed with whom, why, and when. Nevertheless, a comprehensive view of Picasso cannot entirely avoid taking a look at his lifestyle and his love life—both are pieces of the puzzle of "Picasso the person ," and both influenced his art.

Therefore, what follows is a sketch in 7 scenes about the private side of the artist – an intensely lived life.

Scene 6: There are other ways

Eight years of conflict over one man – waged by the supposedly gentle Marie-Thérèse Walter and Dora Maar , of whom the exact opposite is claimed – probably tire this man more than he cares to admit, even if he is secretly flattered. Perhaps the drama, for whom his lovers yearn, simply becomes a little boring at times?

In any case, Picasso finally ended this game without a winner, very much in his own way, by turning to the next woman. While two were still arguing, the third was happy – and Picasso was too, at least initially, because he couldn't yet guess that this time he wouldn't be the dominant one in the relationship.

, this is assumed to be the case in most of Picasso's he found this woman Françoise Gilot

1943 (1946) – 1953 Francoise Gilot – The Woman Who Outlived Picasso

The painter Françoise Gilot met Picasso when she was 21 years old, around the time of her first successful exhibition. That was in May 1943; Picasso was then 61 years old and at the height of his fame and experience.

For the aspiring painter, who had just broken with her family over her life as an artist, he was a man with considerable attraction.

Sometime between 1943 and 1946, they became a couple; Picasso left Dora Maar for Françoise Gilot. Around this time, Françoise Gilot also moved in with him, or rather, accompanied him on his travels.

Picasso was stuck in his studio in Paris, which he also used as a home, from the beginning of the German occupation in 1940 until the city's liberation on August 25, 1944, and was banned from exhibiting his work; he now wanted to travel.

Southern France was a frequent destination, where Picasso's friend and close confidant Henry Matisse stayed. From 1948 onward, they both lived in the Villa "La Galloise" in Vallauris, also in the South of France. There is a legendary beach scene from that year (and not, as stated in the link below, from 1951): Françoise stands laughing on the beach at Golfe-Juan. The equally cheerful Picasso follows her, holding a parasol protectively over her. A third figure, clearly enjoying the beach and the summer, approaches in the background: Javier Vilato, Picasso's nephew (son of Picasso's sister Dolores).

This joyful scene was photographed by Robert Capa , who is actually unforgettable as a war photographer, but was also an extremely gifted photographer of people and their behavior.

Picasso also made Françoise Gilot the subject of countless paintings, as diverse as those of Dora Maar, but overall brighter and friendlier. This is particularly evident in the 1946 "Woman-flower" "Femme dans un fauteuil (Françoise Gilot)" from 1946, even more so than when Picasso portrayed his beloved, delicate Eva Gouel.

After Francoise Gilot gave birth to son Claude in 1947 and daughter Paloma in 1949, Picasso painted even friendlier pictures of the mother and their children, e.g. “Claude et Paloma jouant” from 1950, “Francoise, Claude and Paloma” from 1951 and “Francoise Gilot with Claude and Paloma” from the same year.

Françoise Gilot had pursued her artistic career against the wishes of her father, who wanted her to become a lawyer. In 1943, she unilaterally abandoned her law studies and informed her father that she was determined to become a painter. Following the ensuing argument, she fled home and moved in with her maternal grandmother, who had always supported her; her father withdrew all support.

During her years with Picasso, Francoise Gilot also developed artistically; in 1951, when her beloved grandmother died and she reconciled with her father, she created a completely new series of works; in 1952, she was able to solo exhibition at the Galerie Louise Leiris in Paris “Kitchen Series” and older works from the “White Period” dating back to 1949 .

The exhibition was well received by critics and the public alike; one of the paintings was even sold to the French National Museum, and Gilot was subsequently offered contracts with galleries in New York and London. Picasso did not attend the opening, stating that he did not want to steal any attention from Françoise Gilot and that he was already familiar with all the paintings.

The nature of the relationship between Gilot and Picasso had already changed recently; for Françoise Gilot, the relationship with him had become restrictive and increasingly unbearable. His mood was said to be frequently explosive, his behavior distant, and Françoise Gilot had withdrawn more and more into herself in relation to Picasso, focusing all the more on her work and her children.

Encouraged by the success of the exhibition, Françoise Gilot produced larger paintings, her color palette evolved, and her subjects became more ambitious. At the same time, she distanced herself emotionally from Picasso more and more.

At the beginning of 1953, she felt increasingly suffocated by his dominant attitudes and his refusal to recognize her longing for some independence; by the summer, she considered her relationship with Picasso irreparably destroyed and decided to go her own way.

At the end of September 1953, Gilot left Picasso in Vallauris and moved permanently with her children, Claude and Paloma, to her Paris apartment. Picasso followed her, but returned to the Mediterranean after two weeks. Françoise Gilot became the only woman to leave Picasso of her own volition.

Francoise Gilot first married the painter and actor Luc Simon in 1955, from whom she separated amicably in 1961, and then married Jonas Salk (discoverer of the polio vaccine) in 1970; the marriage lasted until his death in 1995.

And she continued working as an artist; Françoise Gilot now has studios in New York and Paris Montmartre , and she not only survived her relationship with Picasso quite well, but she has also outlived Picasso by a good 40 years. Françoise Gilot is now over 90 years old, and she is said to still be in her studio painting every day. You can get an overview of her beautiful paintings on her official website www.francoisegilot.com .

An article in English-language Vogue magazine describes how one manages to go on living after a lifetime with a personality like Picasso. And how to go on living very successfully, with two marriages and another child, two bestselling books, lectures at the Tate, and an active career as an artist well into her nineties (source: vogue.com) .

You can watch Francoise Gilot live on YouTube ; in 2013 she talks about her own career and her approach to art:

…and on June 6, 2014, at the age of 92, about her artistic idol Henri Matisse:

Francoise Gilot turned a proud 93 years old on November 26, 2014; the extraordinary clarity of her speech and her liveliness in the video from June of this year suggest that she is still enjoying full vitality and excellent health on this birthday.

This article is published around the time of her birthday – if you would like to congratulate her, you can find an email form for messages www.francoisegilot.com/frames.html

Perhaps the only fitting Picasso quote regarding his love for Francoise Gilot:

I have never understood why women see talented men first for their flaws and fools for their merits.”

It only perhaps applies to Francoise Gilot, because we don't know which of his wives Picasso was referring to with this remark, and it only perhaps applies to life in general, because Picasso is simply wrong with this view – at least in its generalization: there are very, very many women who are very good at recognizing what talented men are capable of – the clear shortage is probably (then and still today) more in the opposite direction.

More about Picasso's "rest of his life" and his art can be read in the following articles: "Art-o-Gram: Picasso – A Long Life for Art" (Overview), "Art-o-Gram: Picasso – Born an Artist" (Education), "Art-o-Gram: Picasso – An Artist and Three Wars" (Picasso lived with war around him for 28 years), "Art-o-Gram: Picasso – Famous Art and Its Secret" (no, it probably can't be fully revealed), and in "Art-o-Gram: Picasso – A Guarantee for Top Ranking" and "Art-o-Gram: Picasso Today" the artist's enormous influence is still felt today.