Picasso

It is a widely held view that Picasso’s creative work received a fresh impetus with each new muse in his life. This volume does not discuss his biography or his stylistic phases, however, but pays tribute to the individual fates of the women who left their mark on the artist’s life. Personalities like Françoise Gilot and Dora Maar are among those whose entire life and creative work are acknowledged, not just the years they spent at Picasso’s side.

The book sketches the life of ten women in the life of the Spanish artist. Picasso was close to his mother throughout her life and chose her maiden name as his artist’s name. When he wanted to marry the Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova, she warned him that he would remain married to painting throughout his life. They separated in 1935; the reason was his young muse Marie-Thérèse Walter, who was also soon deposed by Dora Maar. Following various separations, women like the young artist Françoise Gilot also disappeared from Picasso’s canvases, but did not vanish entirely. This book pays tribute to them all.

Presented women:
Doña Maria Picasso y Lopez (Picasso’s mother), Maria Dolores Ruiz Picasso (Picasso’s sister), Gertrude Stein, Fernande Olivier, Eva Gouel (Marcelle Humbert), Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter , Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot, Jaqueline Roque

About the Authors

Margrit Bernard is the editor of works devoted to various art-historical subjects and the curator of private collections of Classical Modernism and museum exhibitions worldwide.

Markus Müller has been the director of the Kunstmuseum Pablo Picasso Münster since 2000 and is Honorary Professor of Art History at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. He is author of Pablo Picasso (The Great Masters of Art series) also published by Hirmer.