Illegitimate son of Pablo Picasso. Pablo Picasso: interesting facts about life and work. Art investigation into the personal life of a genius

Love and relationships with women occupied a large place in the life of Pablo Picasso. Seven women had an undoubted influence on the master’s life and work. But he did not bring happiness to any of them. He not only “mutilated” them on canvas, but also drove them to depression, mental hospital, and suicide.

Every time I change women, I have to burn the last one. This way I get rid of them. This may be what brings back my youth.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga, southern Spain, in the family of the artist José Ruiz. In 1895 the family moved to Barcelona, ​​where the young Pablo He was easily enrolled in the La Lonja art school and, through the efforts of his father, acquired his own workshop. But a big ship has a long voyage, and already in 1897 Picasso goes to Madrid to study at the Royal Academy of San Fernando, which, however, disappointed him from the very first steps (he visited the museum much more often than lectures). And already at this time still quite a child Pablo being treated for a “bad disease.”

Pablo Picasso and Fernanda Olivier

In 1900, running away from sad thoughts after the suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas, Pablo Picasso ends up in Paris, where, together with other poor artists, he rents rooms in a dilapidated house on the Place Ravignan. There Picasso meets Fernande Olivier, or "Beautiful Fernanda". This young woman with a dark past (she ran away from home with a sculptor who later went crazy) and a shaky present (she posed for artists) became a lover and muse for several years Picasso. With her appearance in the master’s life, the so-called “blue period” (gloomy paintings in blue-green tones) ends and the “pink” begins, with motives of admiring nudity and warm colors.

Turning to cubism brings Pablo Picasso success even overseas, and in 1910 he and Fernanda moved to a spacious apartment and spent the summer in a villa in the Pyrenees. But their romance was coming to an end. Picasso met another woman - Marcel Humbert, whom he called Eva. With Fernanda Picasso parted amicably, without mutual insults or curses, since Fernanda at that time was already the mistress of the Polish painter Louis Marcoussis.

Photo: Fernanda Olivier and work Pablo Picasso, where she is depicted "Reclining Nude" (1906)

Pablo Picasso and Marcel Humbert (Eve)

Little is known about Marcelle Humbert, as she died early from tuberculosis. But its influence on creativity Pablo Picasso undeniable. She is depicted in the canvas “My Beauty” (1911); the series of works “I Love Eve” is dedicated to her, where one cannot help but notice the fragility, almost transparent beauty of this woman.

During the relationship with Eva Picasso painted textured, rich canvases. But this did not last long. In 1915, Eva died. Picasso could not live in the apartment where he lived with her, and moved to a small house on the outskirts of Paris. For some time he lived a solitary, reclusive life.

Photo: Marcel Humbert (Eva) and work Pablo Picasso where she is depicted is “Woman in a Shirt Reclining in a Chair” (1913)

Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova

Some time after Eve's death, Picasso A close friendship develops with the writer and artist Jean Cocteau. It is he who invites Pablo take part in creating the scenery for the ballet “Parade”. So, in 1917 the troupe, together with Picasso go to Rome, and this work brings the artist back to life. It was there, in Rome, Pablo Picasso meets the ballerina, the colonel's daughter Olga Khokhlova (Picasso called her “Koklova”). She was not an outstanding ballerina; she lacked “high fire” and performed mainly in the corps de ballet.

She was already 27 years old, the end of her career was not far off, and she quite easily agreed to leave the stage for the sake of marriage with Picasso. In 1918 they got married. Russian ballerina makes life Picasso more bourgeois, trying to turn him into an expensive salon artist and an exemplary family man. She did not understand and did not recognize. And since painting Picasso always connected “with the muse in the flesh,” which he had at the moment, he was forced to move away from the cubist style.

In 1921, the couple had a son, Paolo (Paul). The elements of fatherhood temporarily overwhelmed the 40-year-old Picasso, and he endlessly drew his wife and son. However, the birth of a son could no longer cement the union of Picasso and Khokhlova; they grew increasingly distant from each other. They divided the house into two halves: Olga was forbidden to visit her husband’s workshop, and he did not visit her bedroom. Being an exceptionally decent woman, Olga had a chance to become a good mother of a family and make some respectable bourgeois happy, but with Picasso she “failed.” She spent the rest of her life alone, suffering from depression, tormented by jealousy and anger, but remained a legal wife Picasso until his death from cancer in 1955.

Photo: Olga Khokhlova and work Pablo Picasso, where she is depicted in "Portrait of a Woman with an Ermine Collar" (1923)

Pablo Picasso and Marie-Therese Walter

In January 1927 Picasso met 17-year-old Marie-Therese Walter. The girl did not refuse the offer to work as a model for him, although about the artist Pablo Picasso I've never heard of it. Three days after they met, she already became his mistress. Picasso I rented an apartment for her not far from my own house.

Picasso did not advertise his relationship with the minor Marie-Therese, but his paintings gave him away. The most famous work of this period, “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,” went down in history as the first painting to sell for more than $100 million.

In 1935, Marie-Thérèse gave birth to a daughter, Maya. Picasso tried to get a divorce from his wife in order to marry Marie-Therese, but this attempt was unsuccessful. Relationship between Marie-Therese and Picasso lasted much longer than their love affair lasted. Even after the separation, Picasso continued to support her and their daughter with money, and Marie-Thérèse hoped that he, the love of her life, would eventually marry her. This did not happen. A few years after the artist’s death, Marie-Thérèse hanged herself in the garage of her home.

Photo: Marie-Thérèse Walter and work Pablo Picasso, in which she is depicted, - “Nude, green leaves and bust” (1932)

Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar

The year 1936 was marked for Picasso meeting a new woman - a representative of the Parisian bohemian, photographer Dora Maar. This happened in a cafe, where a girl in black gloves was playing a dangerous game - tapping the tip of a knife between her spread fingers. She got hurt Pablo asked for her bloody gloves and kept them for life. So, this sadomasochistic relationship began with blood and pain.

Subsequently Picasso said that he remembered Dora as a “crying woman.” He found that tears suited her extremely well and made her face especially expressive. At times the artist showed phenomenal insensitivity towards her. So, one day, Dora came to the Picasso talk about your mother's death. Without letting her finish, he sat her down in front of him and began to paint a picture from her.

During the relationship between Dora and Picasso The Nazis bombed the city of Guernica, the cultural capital of Basque Country. In 1937, a monumental (3x8 meters) canvas was born - the famous "" denouncing Nazism." Experienced photographer Dora recorded the various stages of work Picasso above the picture. And this is in addition to many photographic portraits of the master.

In the early 1940s, Dora's “subtle mental organization” develops into neurasthenia. In 1945, fearing a nervous breakdown or suicide, Pablo sends Dora to a psychiatric hospital.

Photo: Dora Maar and work Pablo Picasso in which she is depicted is “The Weeping Woman” (1937)

Pablo Picasso and Francoise Gilot

In the early 1940s Pablo Picasso met the artist Françoise Gilot. Unlike other women, she managed to “hold the line” for three whole years, followed by a 10-year romance, two children together (Claude and Paloma) and a life full of simple joys on the coast.

But Picasso could not offer Françoise anything more than the role of mistress, mother of his children and model. Françoise wanted more - self-realization in painting. In 1953, she took the children and went to Paris. Soon she released the book “My Life with Picasso", on which the film "Living Life with Picasso" Thus, Françoise Gilot became the first and only woman to Picasso did not crush, did not burn.

Photo: Françoise Gilot and work Pablo Picasso in which she is depicted is “Flower Woman” (1946)

Pablo Picasso and Jacqueline Roque

After Françoise left, the 70-year-old Picasso a new and last lover and muse appeared - Jacqueline Rock. They got married only in 1961. Picasso was 80 years old, Jacqueline was 34. They lived more than alone - in the French village of Mougins. There is an opinion that it was Jacqueline who did not favor visitors. Even children were not always allowed on the threshold of his house. Jacqueline worshiped Pablo, like a god, and turned their house into a kind of personal temple.

This was exactly the source of inspiration that the master lacked with his previous lover. For 17 of the 20 years he lived with Jacqueline, he did not draw any other women except her. Each of the latest paintings Picasso- this is a unique masterpiece. And obviously stimulated by genius Picasso it was the young wife who provided the artist’s old age and last years with warmth and selfless care.

Died Picasso in 1973 - in the arms of Jacqueline Rock. His sculpture “Woman with a Vase” was installed on his grave as a monument.

Photo: Jacqueline Rock and work Pablo Picasso in which she is depicted is “Nude Jacqueline in a Turkish headdress” (1955)

Based on materials:

“100 people who changed the course of history. Pablo Picasso" Issue No. 29, 2008

And also, http://www.picasso-pablo.ru/

Picasso Pablo (October 25, 1881 - April 8, 1973) - Spanish artist, graphic artist, sculptor, ceramist. He made a serious contribution to the development of fine arts, one of the founders of cubism. He is the author of an innumerable number of works that lead in value and are more often than not subject to theft.

Early years

Pablo was born in the provincial Spanish city of Malaga; the family later moved to Barcelona. He took his mother's surname because his father's seemed too simple to him. Picasso was convinced that the desire to create was passed on to him by his mother, who told him fairy tales based on the impressions he experienced over the past day.

The boy followed in the footsteps of his father Jose Ruiz, who was an artist, and from the age of seven began to master drawing techniques, completing Jose’s paintings. His first work was “Picador”, written at the age of 8, which he carefully kept throughout his life. When Pablo was thirteen, he was entrusted with finishing most of the still life. There is a version that the boy’s father, seeing the result, gave up fine art.

Within a week, Picasso prepared for the entrance exams to the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona and passed them with ease, despite his too young age. In those days, the best art school was in Madrid, and Jose dreamed that his son would study there. In 1897, Pablo moved to the capital. He was more interested in the experience of artists, and not in classical lectures, which made the young man sad. He studied works in museums and visited Paris for the first time.

A year later, Picasso returned to Barcelona, ​​where he became a member of the Els Quatre Gats artist community. His first exhibitions took place in the café of the same name in 1900. Here he met his friends J. Sabartes and C. Casajemas, who later became the heroes of his works.

The artist’s creativity was productive and was always in a state of development. Therefore, his creative life is usually considered by periods.

Blue and pink periods (1901-1906)

The artist began to travel to Paris, where he studied impressionism. During those years he faced difficulties. His friend Carlos Casajemas committed suicide, which made Picasso very worried. Works before 1904 are referred to as the “blue period”. At that time, the artist’s style was characterized by sad images, themes of poverty and death. His characters included alcoholics, fallen women, blind men and beggars. The color palette was dominated by blue shades. Works of that time include “Woman with a Hairpiece,” “Absinthe Drinker,” “Date,” “Tragedy,” etc.

In 1904, when Picasso moved to Paris, where he settled in a poor hostel for artists, the “pink period” began here. The world-famous “Girl on the Ball” belongs to the transitional time. The colors on the artist’s canvases come to life, pink and golden tones appear. The theme changes to theatrical and circus, and traveling artists become the heroes of the paintings. The model Fernanda Olvier appears in the artist’s life, who greatly influenced the biography of Pablo Picasso and became his inspiration. Then they wrote: “The Jester”, “Sitting Harlequin”, “Girl with a Goat”, etc.

“Family of Comedians” (1905) – there is an assumption that the canvas depicts people from the artist’s circle

Transition to Cubism

If in the early stages Picasso experimented with colors and transferring emotions onto canvas, then after 1906 he began to study form, be interested in sculpture, African culture, and collect ritual masks. He became uninterested in drawing a specific person; Pablo was attracted to forms and structure, their distortions. The first work of the new style, “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” plunged the artist’s friends into a real shock. In 1907, he met Georges Braque, together with whom they became the authors of a completely new movement - cubism.

At first, Picasso’s works of the new period were in brownish-greenish tones, somewhat blurry, the image consisted of simple forms (“Three Women”, “Woman with a Fan”, “Can and Bowls”). In 1909-1910, the object is depicted as consisting of smaller parts with a clear division (“Portrait of Fernanda Olivier”, “Portrait of Kahnweiler”). Further, specific objects, still lifes, and a collage style (“Bottle of Pernod,” “Violin and Guitar”) appear in the paintings.

The author considered “Portrait of Vollard” (1910) the best cubist portrait. Picasso's paintings are beginning to sell well, despite the denial of Cubism by the majority. By 1909, Pablo's financial situation improved, and he moved to a large workshop.

The period of Cubism ends with the onset of the First World War, when he had to part with many like-minded people, including J. Braque. But Picasso would continue to use certain techniques of the cubist style in his works for a long time.

Russian ballet and surrealism

In 1916, Picasso was offered to take part in the production of the Russian ballet by S. Diaghilev. This idea captivated the artist, and together with the ballet troupe he went to Rome, where he worked on scenery and costume sketches. There he meets the ballerina Olga Khokhlova, whom he marries in Paris in 1918. In 1921 their son was born. At the same time, the artist changes his style somewhat; light colors appear in his works (“Bathers”, “Portrait of Olga in a Chair”).

Since 1925, a difficult period began in the artist’s family life and creative activity, combined with the influence of surrealist sentiments. His paintings show signs of aggression, absurdity, hysteria, and torn images (“Woman in a Chair,” “Seated Bather”). In 1932, he meets Marie-Therese Walter, who becomes his model and gives birth to his daughter. Picasso creates sculptures (“Reclining Woman”, “Construction”, etc.).

War and post-war times

In the 30s, the image of a bull appeared on the artist’s canvases, bringing with it aggression and death. During the war in 1937, the Spanish city of Guernica was destroyed. Against the backdrop of these events, Picasso creates his “Guernica” - a large canvas 8 meters long and 3.5 meters wide in black and white. The picture conveys the pain and horror of the people who suffered from the German raiders. The war greatly influenced the artist’s works, which became dark and disturbing (“Slaughterhouse”, “Crying Woman”).

In 1945, Pablo meets Françoise Gilot, the future mother of his two children. This woman inspires the artist to create canvases with family images. After moving to the Mediterranean south of France, he became interested in ceramics, and his works became more harmonious and ironic. Among them are many dishes, plates, sculptures. In 1949, the artist created the well-known “Dove of Peace”. In 1953, Françoise leaves Pablo due to his difficult character and infidelity.

Picasso marries again in 1958, his chosen one is Jacqueline Roque, who is half his age; he painted more than 400 portraits for his wife. Among the paintings of the 50s, the most famous are variations of works by Manet, Goya, Delacroix and others.

Picasso with his wife J. Roque – photo presented at the exhibition “Picasso and Jacqueline” in New York

The last years of the artist

At the end of his life, Picasso was characterized by diverse works, however, as always, female images were in the lead. His last muse was his wife, who was faithful to the artist to the end. Jacqueline cared for him until his last days, when he became blind, almost unable to hear, and very ill. Picasso died in the French city of Mougins and was buried near his castle of Vauvenargues.

During the artist’s lifetime, his friend created a museum with Picasso’s works in Barcelona in 1963. Now it occupies five mansions and has more than 3.5 thousand exhibits. In 1985, the Picasso Museum in Paris began operating, and in 2003, the museum in Malaga. The artist had a strong influence on the culture of his time.

Curious facts

• Beginning his work as a beggar, the great artist died a multimillionaire.
• The work "Algerian Women" was sold at a New York auction for $179 million in 2015. A more expensive painting has not yet been sold at any auction in the world.
• According to experts, Picasso created more than twenty thousand works.
• The automobile company Citroen named several car models after the artist.
• Picasso's youngest daughter Paloma is a designer at the transnational jewelry company Tiffany.
• After the death of Pablo Picasso, several of his relatives also passed away: the grandson from his first wife drank bleach on the day of the artist’s funeral because he was forbidden to attend the ceremony; in 1975, son Paul died of cirrhosis; Marie-Therese Walter committed suicide in 1977; in 1986 - Picasso's widow Jacqueline.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso is one of the most significant figures to have a profound influence on 20th century art. During his long creative career, which lasted more than 75 years, he created thousands of creations, including not only paintings, but also engravings, scenography, ceramics, mosaics and numerous sculptures made using a variety of materials. He was one of the most revolutionary artists in the history of Western painting. Picasso created and developed in his element with incredible vitality, at an accelerated pace characteristic of a rapid age. Each direction of his activity was the embodiment of a radically new idea. One gets the feeling that in one fate of the creator, several artistic lives fit at once. The Spanish artist was a central figure in the development of Cubism and laid the foundations for the concept of abstract art.

Childhood

Pablo appeared on October 25, 1881 in the Andalusian region of southern Spain. After birth, the midwife decided that the baby was dead, since the birth was long and difficult. His uncle, a doctor named Salvador, literally saved the newborn by blowing smoke from a cigar towards the baby, who immediately reacted to the smell with a desperate roar. The full name received at baptism contains 23 words. He was named after various saints and relatives.

His father, José Ruiz Blasco, came from an ancient, wealthy family in northwestern Spain. He was an artist, taught at the school of fine arts founded by the Academy of Fine Arts and located in the building of San Telmo, an old Jesuit monastery, and served as curator at the municipal museum. The School of Art in Malaga has been operating since 1851. The artist owes his surname to his mother Maria Picasso Lopez. He actively used it starting in 1901.

According to legend, one of the first words spoken was "piz", short for "lápiz", meaning "pencil". Pablo loved to draw since childhood. The father had complete control over his son's artistic education. He gave him lessons himself and sent him at the age of five to the school where he worked. Being the son of an academic painter and inspired by his works, Pablo began to create from an early age. As a child, his father often took him to bullfights, and one of his early paintings contained a bullfighting scene.

In 1891, his father received a teaching position at the institute in La Coruña, and in 1892 Pablo entered the same educational institution as a student. For three years he received classical art education. Under his father's academic guidance, he developed his artistic talent with extraordinary speed.

years of education

In January 1895, when Picasso was a teenager, his younger sister Conchita died of diphtheria. This tragic event affected the family's plans. By this same period, Juan was hired as a teacher at the art academy in La Longe, and the family moved. His father promoted Pablo's independence by renting him a studio in Barcelona.

A year later he was accepted as a student at the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. He demonstrated his remarkable ability by completing a month-long entrance exam in one day, despite being younger than the official training requirement. With financial help from his relatives, Pablo went to study in Madrid at the end of 1897. However, Pablo was bored by the classical techniques of the art school. He did not want to paint like the artists of the past, but wanted to create something new. Returning to Barcelona in 1900, he often visited the famous cafe, focused on meetings of the intelligentsia and artists, “The Four Cats”. His visit to Horta de Ebro between 1898 and 1899 and his association with the café group in 1899 were decisive for early artistic development. It was in Barcelona that he moved away from traditional classical methods, leaning towards an experimental and innovative approach to painting. This literary and artistic environment attracted many adherents of contemporary French art from France, as well as Catalan traditional and folk art. There is a myth that the father was so impressed by his son's abilities that in 1894 he swore off painting himself, but in fact José continued to paint until his death. Picasso's relationship with his parents became strained when he stopped studying. In a cafe, he became friends with the young Catalan painter Carlos Casajemas, with whom he later moved to France.

In 1900, Picasso's first exhibition took place in Barcelona, ​​and in the fall he went to Paris.

Parisian period

At the turn of the twentieth century, Paris was the center of the international art world. For painters, it was the home of the Impressionists, who depicted the world around them using brushstrokes or strokes of unmixed colors to create the feeling of real reflected light. Although their works retained certain connections with the outside world, there were certain tendencies towards abstractionism. After leaving Spain, Picasso presented his painting “Last Moments” at the World Exhibition in Paris.

However, the trip to the capital of art was overshadowed. The artist's friend became depressed because of an unhappy and painful love affair with a dancer from the Moulin Rouge. They decided to spend a vacation in Picasso's hometown, but this was not destined to happen. Carlos committed suicide with a shot to the temple. Pablo was so crushed by this loss that it could not help but affect his work. He paints several portraits of a friend in a coffin. Picasso is approaching the “blue period” of his work, during which melancholy and depression shine through canvases replete with blue tones. Over the next four years, blue dominated his paintings. He painted people with elongated facial features. Some of his paintings from this period depicted poor people, beggars, sad and gloomy people.

Two outstanding examples of works from Picasso's Blue Period:

• "Old Guitarist"
• “Beggar Old Man with a Boy”;
• "Life";
• "Woman with a bun of hair."

In 1902, two exhibitions of the artist were organized. Nevertheless, he lives and works practically penniless in Max Jacob's room. A love story with Fernanda Olivier, who was first his model, helped him emerge from deep depression over the death of his close friend Carlos Casajemas. He fell in love with a French woman and lived with her until 1912. The paintings began to be filled with warmer colors, including shades of red, beige, and orange. Art historians call this time in Pablo's life the “pink period.” The plots depicted happier scenes, including a circus theme.

Picasso acquired a permanent Paris studio in 1904. His studio soon became a meeting place for the city's artists and writers. Soon the circle of friends included the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Lev and Gertrude Stein, Andre Salmo, two agents: Ambroise Vollard and Bertha Weil.

Since 1905, he became increasingly interested in visual techniques. This interest seems to have been awakened by the late paintings of Paul Cézanne.

Between 1900 and 1906 he tried almost all the major painting styles. At the same time, his own style changed with extraordinary speed. The Steins introduce him to Henri Matisse. The portrait of Gertrude Stein began a series of experiments in portrait abstraction, inspired by Iberian sculpture, the exhibition of which Picasso visited at the Louvre in the spring of 1906.

Picasso and Cubism

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was Picasso's attempt to forget his past relationships. Executed in a new revolutionary manner, under the influence of the art of Cézanne and Negro, the painting became the founder of the emerging painting movement, the parent of which is considered to be Picasso.

Together with the painter and friend Georges Braque, he began his artistic experiments in 1907. Cubism was a new artistic concept for the artist, through which Pablo tried to challenge the generally accepted laws of copying nature. Objects are laid on the canvas by cutting and breaking objects to emphasize the two dimensions of the canvas.

Between 1907 and 1911, Picasso continued to decompose the visible world into smaller facets of monochrome planes. At the same time, his works became more and more abstract. The most striking examples that clearly illustrate the development of the direction are the paintings: “Fruit Plate” (1909), “Portrait of Ambroise Vollard” (1910) and “Woman with a Guitar” (1911-12). In 1912, Picasso began combining cubism and collage. It was during this period that he began using sand or plaster in his paint to give it texture. He also used colored paper, newspapers and wallpaper to give his canvases additional expressiveness.

Picasso's Russian wife

Picasso began collaborating with directors of ballet and theater productions in 1916. The designed and realized sets and costumes for Diaghilev's ballets amazed audiences from 1917 to 1924. Thanks to his work with the Diaghilev Russian Ballet, Pablo meets the ballerina Olga Khokhlova, who becomes his wife. They lived together for 18 years, during which their son Paulo was born in 1921. In the 20s of the twentieth century, the artist and his wife Olga continued to live in Paris, often traveling and spending their summers on the beach. Due to Picasso having an affair with a young French woman, which resulted in pregnancy and the birth of an illegitimate child, the family broke up. The wife broke off the relationship and left for the south of France. The divorce did not happen, and Olga remained the artist’s wife until the end of her days due to Pablo’s unwillingness to comply with the terms of the marriage contract.

New achievements

In several stages, Picasso turned away from abstraction and a series of paintings in a realistic and serenely beautiful classical style saw the light of day. One of the most famous works was “The Woman in White.” Written just two years after The Three Musicians, calm and not attracting too much attention to itself by being shocking, it once again demonstrated the ease with which it could express itself.

After a short turn to classicism, the master became known for his surrealist works, which replaced cubism.

Between 1925 and the 1930s he was to some extent associated with the surrealists, and from the autumn of 1931 he was particularly interested in sculpture. In 1932, in connection with major exhibitions at the Georges Petit galleries in Paris and the Haus des Arts in Zurich, Picasso's fame increased markedly. By 1936, the Spanish Civil War had a profound impact on Picasso, culminating in his most famous painting. "Guernica" is an allegorical condemnation of fascism, a powerful image depicting the realities of both war and its consequences.

This work was commissioned by the government for the Spanish pavilion before the Paris World Fair. It depicts the catastrophic destruction of the city during the civil uprising. The work was completed within six or seven weeks. Painted entirely in black, white and grey, measuring 25 feet wide and 11 feet tall, the painting serves as a distillation of the people's pain and suffering from brutality. Picasso applied the pictorial language of Cubism to a situation that arose from social and political consciousness.

Picasso's political views

Picasso publicly declared in 1947 that he was a communist. When asked about his motives, he stated: “When I was a boy in Spain, I was very poor and was aware of how poor people lived. I learned that communists are pro-poor. That's why I became a communist." After the death of Joseph Stalin, the French communists turned to the artist with a request to paint a party figure. His portrait caused a stir in the leadership of the Communist Party. The Soviet government rejected his portrait.

Even though Picasso was in exile from his native Spain following the 1939 victory of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, he gave more than eight hundred of his early works to Barcelona. But due to Franco's hostility, his name never appeared in the museum. Among the huge number of Picasso exhibitions that were held during the artist’s life, the most significant were those in New York and Paris.

In 1961, Pablo married Jacqueline Roque and they moved to Mougins. There Picasso continued his fruitful work, which did not stop until the end of his days. One of the last works was a self-portrait made in pencil on paper, “Self-Portrait Facing Death.” He died a year later at the age of 91 in his thirty-five-room villa on the hill of Notre-Dame de Vie in Mougins on April 8, 1973.

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“For me, there are only two types of women - goddesses and doormats.” Pablo Picasso

“Mystery”, “Madness”, “Magic” - these are the first words that came to the minds of patrons when they tried to describe the creation of Pablo Picasso. The artist's special aura was colored by his explosive, Spanish temperament and genius. This is a combination that women could not resist.

website publishes for you the love story of a great painter.

Picasso in his youth and older age

Picasso was an amazing man with that same attractive charm that is now called charisma. However, many women could not come to terms with the artist’s character and committed suicide or went crazy. At the age of 8, Pablo had already written his first serious work, “Picador.” At the age of 16, Picasso, as if jokingly, entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. He dropped out of school just as easily. Instead of poring over books, Pablo and his friends began to play around in Madrid brothels.

At the age of 19, the artist set off to conquer Paris. Before leaving, Picasso painted a self-portrait. At the top of the picture he signed in black paint: “I am the king!” However, the “king” had a hard time in the capital of France. There was no money. One winter, to keep warm, he lit a stone fireplace with his own handiwork.

On the personal front, things were going much better.

Women have always adored Picasso.

First lover Fernande Olivier

His first lover was Fernanda Olivier (she was 18, he was 23 years old). In Paris, Pablo Picasso lives in a poor quarter in Montmartre, in a hostel where aspiring artists lived, and where Fernanda Olivier sometimes poses for them. There she meets Picasso, becomes his model and his girlfriend. The lovers lived in poverty. In the mornings they stole croissants and milk. Gradually people began to buy Picasso's paintings.

Pablo Picasso, Fernanda Olivier and Jaquin Reventos. Barcelona, ​​1906

They lived together for almost a decade, and from this period a large number of both the actual portraits of Fernanda and generally female images painted from her remain.

"Fernanda in a Black Mantilla", 1905

According to researchers, she was also the model for the creation of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, one of Picasso's main paintings, a turning point for the art of the 20th century.

But there was a time when they lived apart (summer and autumn of 1907). This summer left behind bad memories. Both he and she had affairs with others. But the worst thing was that he lived with a woman who did not understand Cubism at all, she did not like him. Perhaps Picasso was experiencing organic depression; Later, when he returned to Paris, he was struck by a stomach ailment. His pre-ulcerative condition. From now on, the relationship between the brush and the canvas will not be in vain for the artist - cubism, as a complex, was as simple as playing chess in three dimensions. And they parted - Picasso and Fernanda.

Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova

True love came to the artist in 1917, when he met one of Sergei Diaghilev’s ballerinas, Olga Khokhlova. The history of their relationship began on May 18, 1917, when Olga danced at the premiere of the ballet “Parade” at the Chatelet Theater. The ballet was created by Sergei Diaghilev, Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, with Pablo Picasso responsible for the costumes and set design.

Photo portrait of Olga Khokhlova.

Olga Khokhlova, Picasso, Maria Shabelskaya and Jean Cocteau in Paris, 1917.

After they met, the troupe went on tour to South America, and Olga went with Picasso to Barcelona. The artist introduced her to his family. Mother didn't like her. Olga is a foreigner, Russian, no match for her brilliant son! Life will show that the mother was right. Olga and Picasso were married on June 18, 1918 in the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral. Jean Cocteau and Max Jacob were witnesses at the wedding.

“Portrait of Olga in an Armchair”, 1917

After they met, the troupe went on tour to South America, and Olga went with Picasso to Barcelona. The artist introduced her to his family. Mother didn't like her. Olga is a foreigner, Russian, no match for her brilliant son! Life will show that the mother was right.

Olga and Picasso were married on June 18, 1918 in the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral. Jean Cocteau and Max Jacob were witnesses at the wedding.

In July 1919, they went to London for a new premiere of the Russian Ballet - the ballet "The Tricorne" (Spanish: "El Sombrero de tres Picos", French: "Le Tricorne"), for which Picasso again created costumes and scenery.

The ballet was also performed at the Alhambra in Spain and was a great success at the Paris Opera in 1919. This was a time when they were happily married and often participated in public events.

On February 4, 1921, Olga gave birth to a son, Paulo (Paul). From that moment on, the couple's relationship began to rapidly deteriorate.

Olga wasted her husband’s money, and he was desperately angry. And another important reason for the disagreement was the role imposed by Olga on Picasso. She wanted to see him as a salon portrait painter, a commercial artist, moving in high society and receiving orders there.

"Nude in a Red Chair", 1929

This kind of life bored the genius to death. This was immediately reflected in his paintings: Picasso depicted his wife exclusively in the form of an evil old woman, whose distinctive feature was threatening long sharp teeth. Picasso saw his wife this way for the rest of his life.

Marie-Therese Walter

Photo portrait of Marie-Therese Walter.

"The Woman in the Red Chair", 1939

In 1927, when Picasso was 46 years old, he ran away from Olga to 17-year-old Marie-Therese Walter. It was a fire, a mystery, madness.

The time of love for Marie-Therese Walter was special, both in life and in work. The works of this period differed sharply from previously created paintings both in style and color. The masterpieces of Marie Walter's period, especially before the birth of his daughter, are the pinnacle of his creativity.

In 1935, Olga learned from a friend about her husband’s affair, and also that Maria Teresa was pregnant. Taking Paulo with her, she immediately left for the south of France and filed for divorce. Picasso refused to divide the property equally, as required by French law, and therefore Olga remained his legal wife until her death. She died of cancer in 1955 in Cannes. Picasso did not go to the funeral. He simply breathed a sigh of relief.

Dora Maar

Photo portrait of Dora Maar.

After the birth of the child, he loses interest in Marie and takes on another mistress - 29-year-old artist Dora Maar. One day, Dora and Marie-Therese met by chance in Picasso's studio when he was working on the famous "Guernica." The angry women demanded that he choose one of them. Pablo replied that they should fight for him. And the ladies attacked each other with fists.
Then the artist said that the fight between his two mistresses was the most striking event in his life. Marie-Therese soon hanged herself. And Dora Maar, who will forever remain in the painting “The Weeping Woman.”

"Crying Woman", 1937

For the passionate Dora, the break with Picasso was a disaster. Dora ended up in the Paris psychiatric hospital of St. Anne, where she was treated with electric shocks. She was rescued from there and brought out of the crisis by her old friend, the famous psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. After this, Dora completely withdrawn into herself, becoming for many a symbol of a woman whose life was shattered by her love for the cruel genius of Picasso. Secluded in her apartment near the Rue Grand-Augustin, she plunged into mysticism and astrology, and converted to Catholicism. Her life stopped perhaps in 1944, when there was a break with Picasso.

Later, when Dora returned to painting, her style changed radically: now from under her brush came lyrical views of the banks of the Seine and landscapes of the Luberon. Friends organized an exhibition of her work in London, but it went unnoticed. However, Dora herself did not come to the vernissage, explaining later that she was busy, as she was drawing a rose in the hotel room... Having survived for a quarter of a century the one who, according to Andre Breton, was the “mad love” of her life, Dora Maar died in July 1997 at the age of 90, alone and in poverty. And about a year later, her portrait “Sobbing Woman” was sold at auction for 37 million francs.

The love between Picasso and Dora Maar, which blossomed during the war, did not stand the test of the world. Their romance lasted seven years, and it was a story of broken, hysterical love. Could she have been different? Dora Maar was wild in her feelings and in her creativity. She had an unbridled temperament and a fragile psyche: bursts of energy alternated with periods of deep depression. Picasso is usually called a “sacred monster,” but it seems that in human relations he was simply a monster.

Francoise Gilot

The artist quickly forgot the lovers he had abandoned. Soon he began dating 21-year-old Françoise Gilot, who was old enough to be the master’s granddaughter. I met her in a restaurant and immediately invited her... to take a bath. In occupied Paris, hot water was a luxury, and Picasso was one of the few who could afford it.

Françoise Gilot with a flower, Vallauris, 1949