Pablo Picasso's
FRIENDS & LOVERS
Friends
- During his time in
Barcelona in 1899 he frequented
Els
Quatre Gats (The Four Cats), the café, where artists and
intellectuals used to meet. He made friends, among others, with
the young painter
Casagemas, and the poet
Sabartés, who would later be his secretary and lifelong
friend. In Quatre Gats Picasso met the vivid representatives of
Spanish modernism, such as Rusinol and Nonell; he was very
enthusiastic about new directions in art, he said farewell to
“classicism” and started his enduring search and experiments.
The relations with his parents strained, they could not
understand and forgive him the betrayal of “classicism”.
Menu
from Els Quatre Gats in 1899.
Picasso's Portrait of
Gertrude Stein. 1906
- In February 1901 Picasso’s
friend Casagemas committed suicide: he shot himself in a
Parisian café because a girl he loved had refused him. His death
was a shock, Picasso returned to it again and again in his
paintings: “Death of Casagemas,” multicolored, and the same in
blue, “Evocation – The Burial of Casagemas.”
Picasso's Death of
Casagemas. 1901
Lovers
- In 1904,
shortly after settling in the shabby building known as the
Bateau-Lavoir, Picasso met a model named
Fernande Olivier who would become his mistress for the next
seven years. Picasso did propose to Fernande but she refused
him because she was already married. His relationship with her
influenced the mood of his paintings and started what is known
as his “Rose Period.
Left:
Fernande & Pablo; Right: Picasso's Fernande with a Black Mantilla.
1905/06
- Picasso ended his
relationship with Fernande in 1911 and started a new
relationship with
Eva
Gouel (Marcelle Humbert), whom he called “Ma Jolie.” When
it became clear that Eva was dying, Picasso left her as well.
Left: Eva Gouel;
Right: Picasso's Study for Woman in an Armchair (Eva Gouel).
1913
- In 1917,
Picasso meets the dancer
Olga Kaklova and marries her the following year. Olga gives
birth to their son Paulo in 1921.
Left to Right: 1919 (Age 38) Picasso in Paris with wife Olga;
Picasso's Portrait of Olga. 1923; Picasso's Paulo as
Harlequin. 1924
-
In 1927 Picasso meets 17 year old
Marie Thérèse Walter whom he hires as a model
for his paintings. She
soon becomes his mistress. Their daughter,
Maria de la Concepcion (called Maïa),
is born in 1935, the same year of Picasso’s final separation
from Olga although the two would remain legally married until
Olga’s death in 1955. Marie
Thérèse always lived with the hope that Picasso would one day
marry her. She eventually hanged herself after Picasso’s death.
Left to Right:
Marie Thérèse Walter & daughter Maïa; Picasso's Portrait of Marie-Thérèse
Walter. 1937; Picasso's Maya with a Doll. 1938
- The
photographer and painter
Dora Maar was also a constant companion and lover of
Picasso. The two were closest in the late 30s and early 40s, and
it was Dora who documented the painting of Guernica. Like all
the women in his life, Dora was cruelly abused emotionally by
the narcissistic Picasso.
Left:
Dora Maar c. 1935; Right: Picasso's Portrait of
Dora Maar. 1937
- After World
War II, Picasso meets fellow painter
Françoise Gilot. They have two children together: son,
Claude, is born in 1947 and daughter,
Paloma, is born in 1949. Unlike Picasso’s other women,
Françoise leaves Picasso in 1953 because of his abusive
treatment and unfaithfulness.
Left to Right:
Françoise Gilot; Picasso's Portrait of
Françoise. 1946; Picasso's Françoise, Claude and Paloma. 1951
- In 1953,
Picasso meets a woman named
Jacqueline Roque at the Madoura Pottery where she worked and
he made and painted ceramics. Their marriage in 1961 was also
the means of one last act of revenge against Françoise.
Françoise had been seeking a legal means to legitimize her
children with Picasso, Claude and Paloma. With Picasso's
encouragement, she had arranged to divorce her then husband, Luc
Simon, and marry Picasso to secure her children's rights.
Picasso then secretly married Jacqueline after Françoise had
filed for divorce in order to exact his revenge for her leaving
him.
Left:
Jacqueline Roque; Right: Picasso's Jacqueline Roque.
1954
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