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Portrait of a Woman 1910, by Pablo Picasso on display at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, is just one of many portraits of Picasso’s beautiful women. Image: MFA
Pablo Picasso’s Wandering Eyes and Lustful Desires Wrecked the Lives of Many Beautiful Women that Crossed his Path. Although he is one of the most important artists of the 20th, Picasso is also the epitome of cruelty to the women in his life. Here is how Picasso turned love to hate, breaking the hearts of many women whom he used as muses for his work.
BY KAZAD
In continuation of our examination of Pablo Picasso’s life and his contribution to 20th-century art, we take a look at his relationship with women. Many of Picasso’s works were influenced by his many lovers. But while they showed him love, he treated them with cruelty. As Dora Maar, one of his many lovers said: ‘As an artist, you may be extraordinary, but morally speaking you are worthless.’ Here is our third and final part of our series on the artist. You can follow the series: Pablo Picasso: Restless Soul in Search of Creative Success and Top 20 Pablo Picasso Insightful Quotes on Art and Life.
Pablo Picasso’s Beautiful Women, Wives, Lovers, and Muses
Picasso was no doubt one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century. Beyond his genius as an artist, however, his personal life remains a point of fascination. Picasso was an irredeemable womanizer and his infidelity is legendary. During his lifetime, he had numerous lovers, girlfriends, mistresses, muses, and prostitutes. For Picasso, ‘There are only two types of women-goddesses and doormats.’ It was, therefore, not surprising that he was always in search of a woman to satisfy his insatiable sexual orgy. His irrepressible sexual appetite kept him constantly on the prowl for beautiful young women.
Pablo Picasso: The Women Behind the Artist
The story of Picasso’s women is intriguing. Picasso had many lovers throughout his life. His wives and mistresses inspired his art and some of the Spanish artist’s famous masterpieces that made him one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Here is a list of Pablo’s lovers, wives, and mistresses that shaped his art.
- Fernande Olivier (1881- 1966)
- Olga Khokhlova (1891-1954)
- Marie -Thérèse Walter (1909-1977)
- Dora Maar (1907-1997)
- Françoise Gilot (1921-)
- Jacqueline Roque (1926–1986)
Olga Khokhlova
Picasso’s relationship with women was filled with twists and sharp turns. On July 12, 1918, the artist married a Ukrainian ballerina named Olga Khokhlova. They met in Rome where the Ballets Russes was touring. Picasso had been persuaded to travel to Rome by the poet Jean Cocteau to paint the scenery for the ballet. It was also a way of getting Picasso out of his depression after the death of his friend Carlos Casagemas. Picasso and Olga settled in Paris, and had a son together, Paulo. Paulo inspired a series of paintings called Maternité. The series depicts women nursing their babies.
There are only two types of women-goddesses and doormats.
Picasso
Soon after the birth of Paulo, the relationship between Picasso and Khokhlova deteriorated. Devastated by the usurping of her power by servants employed by the now wealthy Picasso, Olga became extremely bitter and sort revenge. She gave up a social life and everything else ‘to make her husband’s existence unbearable.’ To make matters worse, Olga found out that Picasso was seeing another woman.
Birds In A Cage 1937
While still married to Olga, Picasso met Marie-Thérèse Walter on a Parisian street in 1927. Marie-Thérèse was at the Galerie Lafayette, a departmental store when Picasso got a glimpse of her. She was beautiful and irresistible. Picasso could not endure the allure, so he made his move. A master at whispering sweet nothings, he told her she had a beautiful face and he would like to paint her portrait. In less than a week, Picasso and the beautiful 17- year-old blond began a long-term relationship. Picasso was 46 and Marie-Thérèse under the age of consent. Marie-Thérèse bore him a daughter, Maya.
Picasso’s infidelities drove Olga to the verge of a nervous breakdown. She was so upset by Picasso’s unfaithfulness that she packed her things and moved to the South of France with their son. There, she filed for divorce. Picasso would not hear of it. Unwilling to divide his property evenly with his wife as stipulated by French laws, Picasso refused to sign the divorce papers. Consequently, Picasso and Olga remained legally married until her death in 1955.
Dora Maar
While Olga wallowed in the South of France, Picasso continued enjoying his own life and relationship with other women. In 1935, he met Dora Maar while on the set of Jean Renoir’s film Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (released in 1936). The half-French, half Yugoslavian artist and photographer was an intellectual, gifted, and beautiful. At 29, she was nearly half Picasso’s age. Picasso invited her to his studio to take photographs of his work. Soon, Picasso and Dora were engaged in a romantic and professional relationship that lasted for more than a decade.
Maar was a major influence on Picasso. As the relationship grew, the new lovers began to experiment with photography and painting. The influence of Maar’s photography style began to appear in Picasso’s paintings. The harsh angles, deconstructed shapes, and bold colors became vivid in his works, revealing Maar’s influence. Weeping Woman (1937) exemplifies Maar’s influence on Picasso’s creative instinct. Maar documented the making of Guernica (1937), Picasso’s famous large-scale painting on the consequences of war.
Between Two Lovers: Dora Vs Marie-Thérèse
Picasso’s relationship with Maar was a roller coaster ride. It was tempestuous, physically abusive, and most often contentious. Jealousy was a poison. Picasso was cruel to the core. To make Maar jelouse Picasso would pit Maar against Marie-Thérèse. Picasso made every effort to keep his two mistresses apart. One day, however, Dora and Marie-Thérèse met by accident in Picasso’s studio. It was a disquieting experience that Picasso relished with unreserved glee. He recalled the encounter thus: ‘Marie-Thérèse turned to me and said: “Make up your mind. Which one of us goes?” I was satisfied with things as they were. I told them they’d have to fight it out for themselves. So they began to wrestle. It’s one of my choicest memories.’ Picasso immortalized the encounter in the painting Birds In A Cage 1937. It has a black dove (Dora) fighting a white dove (Marie-Thérèse).
Picasso picked Dora as the winner of the fight, and she moved in with him. As for Marie-Thérèse, Picasso moved her and her daughter into a nearby apartment. Even as Picasso shuttled between the two mistresses, his wandering eyes were transfixed on a new lover.
Françoise Gilot: Picasso’s New Lover
At the height of the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1943, Picasso met two pretty young girls in a Café. He invited them to his studio and one of them captivated him. 21- year-old Françoise Gilot, a law student and aspiring painter, was Picasso’s next mistress. He wooed her and she succumbed months later, surrendering her virginity to him. He was still seeing Dora even as he engaged Gilot. She was a source of influence for Picasso and was the muse for his floral portrait of her and the sculpture Femme Debout.
Dora was heartbroken by the news of the affair between Picasso and Françoise. She became depressed and sick. Sadly, Picasso did not care. Instead of compassion, Picasso in his usual tradition moved her to another apartment, where she had to wait for his call to visit the studio. In 1945, her depression developed into a total mental collapse. Picasso sent her to a nursing home to recover and Gilot moved in with Picasso. Dora was so disenchanted that she never married or took another lover. For her, Picasso was the all-in-all. ‘After Picasso, God,’ she said.
While Dora lust for Picasso’s affection, he was enjoying his life with Françoise. They traveled to the Mediterranean resort Antibes to spend time together. The relationship blossomed for several years and they had two children, a son Claude, and a daughter, Paloma. As Picasso’s relationship with Françoise flourished, Olga, his mentally unstable rejected wife, would not let go. Many times she broke into their home and attacked Françoise with the hope of causing irreparable damage.
Picasso and Françoise
As with his other relationships, Picasso’s relationship with Gilot was turbulent. The challenge of motherhood created the first crack in their relationship. She felt overburdened nurturing their children and serving Picasso at the same time. She was not just the home keeper, it was also her duty to light the stove in Picasso’s studios at dawn every day. Françoise hated it! Adding salt to injury was Picasso’s philandering, which made her very unhappy. Françoise’s fleeting happiness also made Picasso so depressed that he contemplated killing himself. However, the artist came out of his mood after meeting yet another beautiful woman-Geneviève Laporte. Gilot has had enough. She left the artist after over a decade of abuse. In 1953 she wrote a tell-all memoir that enraged Picasso. In response, Picasso disowned their children. Françoise Gilot went on to marry scientist Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine.
Geneviève Laporte
Picasso first met Geneviève, a poet, when she was still a schoolgirl in war-time Paris. In 1951, more than a decade after their first meeting, she became his lover. Picasso was 70 and she 24 when their relationship started. It was a hush-hush relationship as Picasso, who was already an international celebrity, was trying to avoid any scandal. In any case, the relationship was a road to nowhere and it ended in 1953.
Picasso was miserable when Geneviève left and he did his best to locate her. He went to nightclubs on the Cote d’ Azur in his effort to find her. He was unsuccessful.
Jacqueline Roque: Picasso’s Second Wife
Wretched and rejected, Picasso resigned to fate. He poured his heart and soul into his work and the result was amazing. His favorite model was Jacqueline Roque. The exotic-looking 27-year- old adored and worshiped Picasso. She called him her ‘god’ and did everything to please him.
In 1961, six years after Olga’s death, Picasso married his second wife Jacqueline Roque. He was 79 years old. Jacqueline Roque was Picaso’s second wife. Winning Roque’s heart took great effort. To make her go on a date with him, Picasso drew a dove in chalk on her house and brought her one rose a day until she agreed to date him six months later. Picasso and Jacqueline got married in Vallauris on March 2, 1961. The marriage lasted for 11 years. Jacqueline was Picasso’s most inspiring muse and he painted over 400 portraits of her, more than any of his other lovers. When Picasso died in April 1973 at the age of 92, Jacqueline was beside him.
Picasso Turned Love to Hate
Picasso’s love life was as intriguing as his art career. He was a smooth operator who used his genius to win and break many hearts. Picasso’s portraits of the women in his life externalized his inner cruelty. Although the women drank from his feet, he treated badly. The artist was apt when he noted that “To make oneself hated is more difficult than to make oneself loved.” Many of his mistresses and wives loved him but Picasso successfully turned their love to hate. Patrick O’Brian, one of Picasso’s biographers puts Picasso’s relationship with women succinctly: “Picasso’s feeling for women oscillated between extreme tenderness on the one hand and violent hatred on the other, the mid-point being dislike — if not contempt.”
To make oneself hated is more difficult than to make oneself loved.
Pablo Picasso
In addition to fathering four children by different women, two of Picasso’s lovers were driven to a mental breakdown, and two committed suicide. When Picasso was buried, a statute of Marie-Thérèse was placed over his grave. For four years, Marie-Thérèse lamented his death. Unable to bear the loss, she killed herself four years after his death. Like Marie-Thérèse, Jacqueline was distraught by Picasso’s passing. First, she took to drinking and when that did not help deal with the death of her ‘god’, she shot herself.
Pablo Picasso’s women inspired his art and influenced a successful artistic career. In return, he treated them cruelly. What do you think about how Pablo picasso Picasso treated the women he met? Join the art conversation: Share your thoughts and comments.
