Art-O-Gram: Picasso-the artist, life and love-scene 7

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 7: Calmer with age?

It's okay, one can say at the outset; even Picasso, approaching 90, is said to have been conjured up by a good surge of testosterone, depicting pointy-bearded musketeers in his paintings, to whom little Cupids whisper pipe-smoking amorous adventures…

That Picasso couldn't quite let go of it was proven even before Francoise Gilot separated from him, at the age of 70, with a woman over 45 years younger:

1951 – 1953: Geneviève Laporte – a gentle interlude with quite pleasing consequences

As his relationship with Francoise Gilot became increasingly difficult, Picasso met an “old acquaintance” again: Geneviève Laporte had interviewed Picasso as a 17-year-old student in 1944 for her school newspaper in Paris.

Fresh from a stay in the United States, she met Picasso again by chance in 1951 and began an affair with the artist, who was about half a century older than her. They spent a secret summer together in Saint Tropez, during which Picasso made drawings and paintings of her.

After Françoise Gilot left him in 1953, Picasso wanted to recapture those pleasant six weeks and suggested to Geneviève that she move into his (Gilot's) villa on the French Riviera. Geneviève Laporte politely declined; she married Olivier de Pierrebourg in 1959. Geneviève Laporte de Pierrebourg went on to make a name for herself as a writer, filmmaker, and poet.

Laporte also wrote a book about her time with Picasso , which probably doesn't exactly depict a relaxing beach holiday in Saint-Tropez (Geneviève Laporte, “Si tard le soir, le soleil brille: Pablo Picasso” , published in 1973 by Plon Verlag, which translates roughly as “When evening grows tired, the sun is already shining”). Most notably, however, she auctioned off 20 works that Picasso had painted of her at a Paris auction in June 2005, fetching a respectable 1.54 million euros.

With this money she founded the foundation “Genevieve Laporte de Pierrebourg, pour la defense de la nature et des animaux” (Genevieve Laporte de Pierrebourg, for the protection of nature and animals, more about the foundation at anesterel.com ), here an affair has truly proven to have deeper meaning.

Links to the images:

• jonetlazo.files.wordpress.com/ – “Hoja en blanco genevieve”
• sapergalleries.com/ – famous drawing by Geneviève Laporte

1953 – 1973: Jacqueline Roque – Last love and second wife

friendship developed between Picasso and Jacqueline Roque , the saleswoman in the ceramics workshop where Picasso often worked. This quickly blossomed into something more, and Jacqueline would spend the last two decades of his life with Picasso. They married in March 1961; Jacqueline Roque had just turned 34, and Picasso was 79.

During his relationship with Jacqueline, Picasso rediscovered his joy in portrait painting ; he painted over 400 portraits of her during their long period of living together.

Links to the images:

• webartacademy.com/ – Photo of Picasso and his wife Jacqueline after their secret marriage in 1961
• webartacademy.com/ – Photo by Jacqueline Picasso, 1962

Jacqueline Picasso was left alone and, unfortunately, is said not to have been as happy with her life without her husband as one might expect someone who has just inherited art worth six figures and is supposed to take care of Picasso's huge legacy as executor (including co-designing the Picasso Museum in Paris).

Much has been written about how “the little Frenchwoman devoted her entire existence to the egocentric man, gave him strength with her devotion until his 91st year, and endured his bizarre fears in symbiotic connection.”.

The psychological cannibal Picasso, with his absolutist dominance, absorbed her energies; after his death, deprived of her central star, she collapses, until finally, after the opening of the Picasso Museum in Paris, the fulfillment of her life's purpose, she shoots herself with a pistol in her villa.”

Such texts likely originate from the pens of men entangled in narcissistic fantasies, or from women who at that time (1986) were practicing for their first volumes of a “bite-me-at-dawn” literature, but even the more serious reporters did not consider that genuine and deep grief could lead to a depressive illness and that this – if not recognized and treated by those around them – could end in suicide.

Even more unkind things are written about Picasso's relationships with women; he has been portrayed as a monster on whom revenge must be taken; as a painter who paints with the blood of his wives; he is accused of having a tendency towards child-women and also sometimes a tendency towards men, and much else besides, which forever brands the artist as a "heartless genius" in the eyes of intolerant petit bourgeoisie.

It's questionable whether and how someone who didn't live with Picasso can judge this – the bare facts in the summary certainly read like this:

Fernande Olivier was the same age as Picasso; they met at 24, perhaps a little early for a lifelong commitment, but the relationship lasted seven years and was by no means easily abandoned by him. At 31, Picasso met Eva Gouel , whom he is said to have loved very much. Despite Picasso's strong efforts on her behalf, the relationship ended tragically after three years with Eva's death from tuberculosis.

Picasso was looking for a wife again and, at the age of 34, met 27-year-old Gabrielle Depeyre , who, however, rejected his marriage proposal and left him after a year to marry her fiancé as planned in 1917. A little later, at 35, Picasso had a brief, year-long relationship with the 23-year-old artist Irène Lagut . What has been passed down about this relationship does not suggest that Irène loved Picasso very much or took him very seriously.

At 36, Picasso meets Olga Khokhlova , 26 years old, suitable and willing to lead a marriage and a bourgeois life with him, but the woman quickly becomes too demanding (and probably also too narrow-minded) for Picasso, and life with her too confining.

The 46-year-old Picasso fled his marriage in 1927 with a woman almost 30 years his junior, Marie-Thérèse Walter. She was barely, if at all, a minor (the exact timing is disputed) when she met Picasso and began a relationship with him. Marie-Thérèse lived as Picasso's secret lover for the first eight years. When she became pregnant, Olga left Picasso, who then officially lived with Marie-Thérèse.

Until 1936, when he Dora Maar, the exact opposite of the gentle, blonde Marie-Thérèse, and fell in love with her… Picasso continued to support Marie-Thérèse financially and, according to Françoise Gilot, spent one day a week with her and their daughter Maya even during their relationship.

The relationship with Dora Maar, described as a theatrical dark beauty some 25 years younger, lasted eight years, a time of open rivalry between Marie-Thérèse Walter and Dora Maar, from which Picasso stayed out as much as possible. Perhaps until it became too much for him… in any case, the 62-year-old now turned his attention to a 21-year-old.

His relationship with the 40-years-younger French artist Françoise Gilot lasted 10 years and produced two children, until Françoise separated from Picasso in 1953, the only one of his wives to do so. After a brief interlude with the 25-year-old Geneviève Laporte , 45 years his junior, who refused to move into Picasso's house on the French Riviera when he was 70, Picasso met the 26-year-old ceramics saleswoman Jacqueline Roque , the woman with whom he would share his later years.

He was 72 at the time; when he turned 80, the two married, and Jacqueline Roque remained his wife until Picasso's death in 1973 .

One can consider such a career path of a man to be quite normal; he simply began a love affair at a young age that could not last, looked for a wife to marry, and after the tragic loss of a love , hastily married a woman who was not a very good match for him.

After his marriage failed, he avoided confronting his relationships and took one lover after another, all of whom were always willingly available. He briefly encountered resistance, but then finally found a woman who perhaps loved him excessively and was perhaps excessively empathetic, and therefore (gladly) endured life at his side…

From this perspective, and taking things a step further, this even presents a fairly common example of the love life of a successful man today. He chooses the increasingly younger woman at his side purely as an ornament – ​​and because of this woman, and even because of his business practices that skirt the edge of legality, he is not despised but rather revered and envied.

He even exists in various forms in our society: the media star who remains perpetually immature, the "money worker" (who works on the stock exchange, in a bank, for an investment fund) who – because he is unchecked – falls into ever more unrestrained juggling acts, the equally unchecked owner of a highly successful (i.e., supported by many buyers) company who manages to pay absolutely no taxes, anywhere, for the benefit of no single society – and the little fools at their side seem to be multiplying in ever-increasing numbers…

Certainly, these people are not envied by the more intelligent part of our society – but even today it is quite common to treat the entrepreneur who has a fourth wife and has amassed wealth by exploiting his workers as a great man, rather than the worker who has a good relationship with his wife and goes along with this exploitation to secure the provision for his family.

One can also view the development of Picasso's relationships quite differently – perhaps Picasso had been searching for a true companion all these years, only finding her in Jacqueline (who mourned him so intensely for this reason), and perhaps he liked and admired women?

When women who had dealings Picasso

“She had never met another man in her life who was so kind and respectful to her. He was caring and kind to her, encouraged her, and gave her confidence and strength.”,

Sylvette David , the Frenchwoman of whom Picasso painted more than 60 portraits in 1954, later said SZ Magazin – Picasso idolized me ).

Swiss art dealer Angela Rosengart also speaks very positively about his behavior towards women:

“She never experienced Picasso as a macho or selfish person, and described this in her book “Visits to Picasso.” Even Jacqueline Picasso, with whom she was very close, never spoke disparagingly about her husband. On the contrary, he adored women and always behaved very respectfully towards them.”

( “Visits to Picasso” , impressions with photographs by Siegfried and Angela Rosengart, text by Angela Rosengart, Lucerne, Spring 1973 SRAR).

Anyone wanting to get a better understanding of Picasso's could, of course, read much more extensive accounts (though not necessarily in a friendlier tone) from his wives themselves:

Fernande Olivier, Nine Years with Picasso : Memoirs from 1905 to 1913. Foreword by P. Leautaud. Translated by Gertrud Droz-Rüegg. Zurich, Diogenes 1957 (no ISBN, which only appeared from 1972 onwards);

Fernande Olivier, Picasso and his Friends: Memoirs from the Years 1905–1913. Diogenes Verlag, new edition 1989, ISBN 978-3-257-21748-3; Françoise Gilot, Life with Picasso, Diogenes Verlag, 23rd edition 1987.

You can also see Picasso's women in action, portrayed on stage by Dafne-Maria Fiedler (Eva, Olga, Dora, Jaqueline) and Barbara Geiger (Fernande, Gabrielle, Marie-Thérèse, Francoise, play by Brian McAvera, directed by Barbara Geiger).

When the website for the project refers “Pablo, the dazzling man,” “exciting, stressful existence alongside” Picasso and “his cruelty,” it gives one confidence that all the common clichés about Picasso’s treatment of women have been incorporated.

A sample can be found in the following video; future dates can be found on the website (25.11.2014: 23.02.2015 Wallgraben Theater, Freiburg, Part I; 2.03.2015 Part II at the same location).

The short film “Picasso's Women” :

Picasso's fitting quote for assessing the contradictory mess with women is perhaps a little malicious, given the simplicity of his approach with the sentences

“I need you and I’m tired of having to do without you. And because I can’t do without you, you have to come to me.”

reproduces (found on www.literaturundkunst.net/picassos-frauen ).

Even more malicious, but fitting: “Women love the simple things in life, for example men” (a quote that is attributed to many others besides the rather confused and often slightly cynical writer W. Somerset Maugham, who was quite confused about the matter of women).

If, after reading 7 sketches about “Picasso and the Women,” you feel the need to learn more about “Picasso without Women,” the following articles deal with Picasso’s life and his art: “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – A Long Life for Art” provides an overview; “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – Born an Artist” explores Picasso’s beginnings; “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – An Artist and Three Wars” addresses the terrible shadows that darkened people’s lives in the last century; “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – Famous Art and Its Secret” attempts to trace this very secret, which “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – A Guarantee for Top Rankings” and “Art-o-Gram: Picasso Today” then follow.

If, after so much reading, you have absolutely no desire to engage with art theoretically, you could take a detour to www.artsology.com – there you can play “Picasso”, about a dozen games in which Picasso plays a (not necessarily artistically meaningful) role, which can be played online.