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Pablo Ruiz Picasso born on 25 October 1881 - 8 April 1973 was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. He is widely known for co-founding the Cubist movement and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. He was great at his work and had many relations through his life. |
They were his driving force, his muses, and he used them all, creating and implementing through them his artistic dynamism in the world of art. . However, after a while, they were all subsequently replaced by the following mistress and were left heartbroken with just their memories. Just as he kept old matchboxes or pencil stubs, so he kept his old mistresses ready in hand.
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Fernande Olivier was Picasso's first love and stayed with him during the early, poor years of the Rose Period and the early Cubism. Picasso and Fernande met for the first time outside the Bateau Lavoir and stayed together for nine years. While she and Picasso were together, Fernande spent most of her time with her lover, first in the Bateau Lavoir studio and later in a larger apartment in Boulevard de Clichy. During the summers they usually left the city together and no matter where they were, it was Fernande who kept him company, made him a home and protected his privacy. After meeting her, Picasso seemed to show a significant change in the tone of his works and her impact is apparent in most of his female nudes. Picasso fell passionately in love with the young woman, and Fernande accepted his adoration. Proud of having a real mistress, he tried to protect his love, both out of jealousy-". Indeed, as a jealous lover, he often kept her locked up when he went out. |
Fernande was eventually left by Picasso for Eva Gouel, a short lived affair due to her death from tuberculosis. After their break up, she was never able to get over Picasso and accept his rejection and therefore became the first woman who, until her death, lived in sorrow (The tragedies of Picasso's women).
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Olga Koklova was a Russian ballet dancer that Picasso met in 1914. Their attraction was obvious and soon they got married. Olga became Picasso's first wife and her Russian bourgeois social connections caused Picasso's social work and life to change. Together they had a son, Paulo, who together with Olga formed a series of subject matter for Picasso's paintings. The kind of life Picasso was living next to Olga was demanding and soon, he lost his interest and their marriage slowly begun to collapse. Picasso began to produce smaller, three-dimensional forms in a violent, aggressive style and color that seemed to express his anxiety over Koklova who started showing signs of madness. Eventually, because of his rejection, Olga suffered a nervous breakdown and after the end of their marriage, she kept stalking on Picasso and his mistresses, hoping to regain his attention and interest. |
Olga's place was taken by Marie-Therese Walter whose presence in Picasso's life can only be seen from his paintings. Marie-Therese was both a lover and a model and in 1935, gave birth to Picasso's first daughter, Maya. Conversely to Olga, she never became Picasso's wife, despite her deep desire to. In 1977 Marie-Therese hanged herself in later years in the garage of her home (The tragedies of Picasso's women).
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Following Marie-Therese came Dora Maar, an attractive woman who had a reputation of a successful photographer. Picasso and Dora met in 1936 and she must have been the reason for Picasso's lost of interest in Marie-Therese. Dora became Picasso's lover for seven years and was able to view Picasso's step by step creation of Guernica. It is not surprising to find that her features also appear in the painting, since Picasso inspirations by his lovers are unquestionable. Dora spent much of her life as a religious recluse, painting and writing poetry behind a veil of fiercely guarded privacy due to the bad end that her relationship with the great artist had. She is often seen as the tragic muse of Picasso, as she suffered mental health problems after their break up. Dora is usually portrayed in Picasso's paintings as a weeping woman . |
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Francoise Gilot was the next in line in Picassos trajectory of women. The night they met in 1943, when Picasso invited her to visit his studio, seemed to Francoise to be the beginning of an exciting life offering her possibilities both in her personal life and in her artistic career. Their affair begun when she was only 23 while his was already in his mid 60's. Their relationship lasted for ten years, during which Francoise had to put up with Picasso's domineering character and unfaithfulness. Francoise had a son and a daughter with Picasso, and after their break up, she seems to have been the only woman with enough strength to get over Picasso and go on with her life.
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Finally Picasso ,while having an affair with Francoise, met Jacqueline Roque who was the last woman in his life. She lived with him for 20 years, until his death in 1973, and became important to Picasso's life, as apart from lover and muse, also took the role of secretary. Jacqueline dedicated this part of her life to Picasso's creativity, and is seen as yet another tragic story since after Picasso's death, she shot herself bringing an end to women of Picasso's life. |
Posted February 25, 2012
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