The Lovers of Pablo Picasso

Laure Germaine Gargallo Pichot, 1901-03.

Laure Germaine Gargallo Pichot is the first known relationship of Pablo Picasso’s exciting life. Picasso met Germaine in 1900 when she was a model dating Charles Casagemos, a close friend of his. Picasso moved back to Paris after Casagemos committed suicide in 1901 due to the rejection of Germaine. While in Paris, Germaine and Picasso had an affair that lasted until 1903. In 1906, Germaine married Ramon Pichot, another friend of Picasso’s.

Madeleine, 1904.

Madeleine is one of the most mysterious of Picasso’s relations. No one really knows anything about her; where she came from, where she went after their relationship, when she died, or even her last name. They met when she began posing for the young Spanish painter while he was staying in Paris in 1904, and their relationship quickly escalated. According to Picasso, Madeleine became pregnant during their relationship, but decided to get an abortion. This decision upset Picasso, and he began to draw many images of mothers with their babies. When one of these images surfaced in 1968, he remarked that he should have had a 64-year-old child at that point.

Artworks she appeared in:

· Woman in a Chemise, Paris, 1904, Tate Gallery, London.

· Madeleine Crouching, Paris, 1904, Musee d’Art Moderne, Saint-Etienne.

· Woman with a Helmet of Hair, 1904, Art Institute of Chicago.

· Portrait of Madeleine, Paris, 1904, Musee Picasso, Paris.

· Mother and Child, Paris, 1904, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University.

Fernande Olivier (Amelie Lang), 1904-1911.

Many believe that Fernande Olivier was his first great love. The couple met near Picasso’s studio in Montmartre in 1904 where she was a French artist and model. She inspired his Rose Period and many of his early Cubist paintings and sculptures. They had an extremely tempestuous relationship, and Picasso left her when he became a successful artist as he said that she reminded him of more challenging times. After their relationship ended, Olivier began to publish a series of memoirs about their life together, but Picasso paid her not to release any more until they both died. Olivier was the model for some of Picasso’s most famous forays into Cubism, including being one of the demoiselles in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.

Eva Gouel (Marcelle Humbert), 1911-1915.

Picasso fell in love with Eva while still living with Olivier, and they continued their affair before they left their respective partners. During this period, Picasso his secret messages for Gouel in his paintings. He declared his love for her in his artwork Woman with a Guitar in 1911. Their relationship ended when she died of tuberculosis in 1915.

Gabrielle (Gaby) Depreye Lespinesse, 1915-1916.

The love affair between Picasso and Gabrielle Depreye Lespinesse was revealed by John Richardson in an article in House and Gardens in 1987 and his second volume of A Life of Picasso in 1996. He claims that their romance was a secret they kept for their entire lives because it begun in the few months before Eva’s death. Apparently, they met when Andre Salmon recommended to Picasso that he catch one of her shows; she was a singer and dancer for a Parisian cabaret. It has been reported that he referred to her as “Gaby la Catalane”, however Richardson believes that this may not be reliable because Gaby could have been a friend of Eva’s or Irene Lagut, another one of Picasso’s lovers.

People have speculated that their relationship must have begun while Eva was in a nursing home recovering from an operation to remove her cancer. Evidence of their affair came to light after her death when her niece decided to sell the paintings, collages and drawings Picasso created during their clandestine relationship. Due to imagery in the artworks, Richardson deduces that their hide-away must have been Herbert Lespinasse’s home in St. Tropez. There is also evidence in these artworks that Picasso may have asked Eva to marry him, however, she married Lespinesse in 1917, suggesting that she refused any offer he made.

Paquerette (Emilienne Geslot), 1916.

Paquerette was 20 years old when she and Picasso began their affair that lasted around 6 months. Paquerette was an actress and model for the high-society couturier Paul Poiret and his sister Germaine Bongard. According to Gertrude Stein’s memoirs, Picasso “was always coming to the house, bring Paquerette, a girl who was very nice.”

Irene Lagut, 1916-1917.

After being rejected by Gaby Lespinesse, Picasso fell madly in love with Irene Lagut. Before Picasso, Irene had been kept by a Russian rand duke in Moscow, so he kidnapped her with his friend Guillaume Apollinaire, a poet. They took her to a villa in the suburbs of Paris, where she escaped and then returned a week later where she began an affair with Picasso. During her life, Lagut had affairs with both men and women, as well as Picasso until they made the decision to her married in 1916. Before they married, Lagut ran away to an old lover in Paris. Although she rejected him, the couple had another affair in 1923. During their later affair, she became the subject of The Lovers.

Olga Khokhlova, 1917-1955.

Olga Khokhlova was Picasso’s first wife, and the mother of his first son, Paulo. Picasso met Olga, then a Russian ballet dancer, while he was designing the costumes and sets for a show they were both involved in. After meeting Picasso, Olga left the ballet company to stay with him in Barcelona, before later moving to Paris together. They married in 1918, while Picasso was 36, and Olga was 26. Their marriage, although already on the rocks, completely fell apart after their son was born in 1921. Although they finally separated in 1935, they did not get divorced because Picasso refused to abide by French law that stated he had to divide his estate equally with Olga. They stayed legally married until Olga died of cancer in 1955.

Marie Therese Walter, 1927-1936.

Marie Therese Walter was 17 years old when she met Picasso, who was 46. She became his muse, and girlfriend in 1927, while Picasso was still married to Olga. Walter was the inspiration for Vollard Suite, a set of 100 etchings completed 1930-1937. In ‘the Dreamer’, Picasso is in the throws of his passion for Walter, using warm colours to depicts her sensuous body in repose. However, their relationship ended when Picasso met Dora Maar in 1936.

Dora Maar, 1936-1943.

Dora Maar was a French photographer, painter and poet that studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Picasso met Marr in 1935, and she soon became his muse and inspiration for around 7 years. She took many photographs of Picasso, including ones that documented his creation of Guernica (1937). She was also the face of the Weeping Woman (1937). Although many pit Maar against Walter for Picasso’s first true love, he was abusive towards her. Once they departed in 1943, Maar suffered a nervous breakdown, and became a recluse in later years.

Francoise Gilot, 1943-1953.

Picasso first met Francoise Gilot in 1943, when she was ae 22 and he was 62. He was, again, still married to Olga at this point. The couple have been said to be drawn to each other immediately both intellectually and romantically. They kept their relationship a secret for quite a while, but Gilot eventually moved in with Picasso, and they ended up having two children together, Claude and Pamola. In 1952, Gilot left Picasso because she was sick of his affairs and abusive behaviour. Eleven years after they separated, she released a book documenting the life she had with Picasso.

Jacqueline Roque, 1953-1973.

Jaqueline Roque and Picasso met at the Madoura Pottery where he created his ceramics. They married in 1961 after she divorced her husband. When they got married, she was 27 and he was 79. Picasso was greatly inspired by Roque, and created more works based around her than any other woman in his life. They stayed together until the day he died, and at his funeral in 1973, Jaqueline prevented his children Pamola and Claude from attending because Picasso had disinherited them after Francoise had published her book. Roque committed suicide at the age of 60, in the same castle on the French Rivera where she and Picasso lived during their relationship.

Sylvette David (Lydia Corbett David), 1954-55.

When Picasso met Sylvette David, she was only 19 and he was in his 70s. Gilot had just left him, and he was immediately smitten. She posed for him regularly, however she was too timid to pose nude for him, and they never slept together. Picasso did more than 60 portraits of her in their short time together, in a variety of media including drawing, painting and sculpture. This period of his art was called the Ponytail Period after the signature ponytail that David always wore.

Subway Writers

A girl. Black hair. A black coat. Bangs. A blue tote-bag. Manhattan. Discomfort. Headphones. Mobile phones. Curled in close to themselves to avoid touching strangers. "Helping you get where you need to go." Readers. A seat apart. Precautious balance. A girl. A book. A pen. Reviewing. A makeshift desk made of a backpack. A diary. A green beanie. Torn jeans. Concentrated. Notetaking. Writers. A Lady. Another beanie. A trench-coat. Red sneakers. Squished between two unfamiliar bodies. Stale orange seats. Crossword puzzles. Determination. A face obviously conditioned to the overwhelming mass of bodies surrounding it. Black. Posture. A sign of resignation. Folded hands. A sign of familiar discomfort. Nervousness. "Improving, non-stop." Focused. A head rested in the palm of a hand. A book in a lap. Distraction. Imagination. Lost in a fantasy. City maps. A man. Crowded. Bundled in layer upon layer. Unease. Lost in the act of writing. Another makeshift desk made from a backpack. Eyes downcast. Hunched over the mound of fabric that bubbles in front of his face. Written notes. Newspapers. A kid. Leaning over a book in their hands. Dim green lighting. "Uptown & Downtown." A man. Writing. Absorbed. A ring on his finger. A hat on his head. A beard. A coat. Satisfaction. Simultaneously dull and vibrant yellow seats. An empty train. Open seats. Standing. Room to cross legs. Room to write freely without disruption. Unaware. Posters. A train platform. The Subway. Train tracks. Passengers staring at their phones. Unnatural lighting. Waiting. Frustration. Underground air. Bench chairs. Bins. Vending machines. "Exit."

Artist Appreciation: Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was a self-taught Mexican artist known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of her home, Mexico. Her work, primarily self-portraiture, explored identity, post-colonialism, gender, class and race in Mexican society as well as hints towards physical and psychological pain she felt in her everyday life. In this way, her work often had strong autobiographical elements mixed with realism, surrealism, and fantasy. Of her known 143 artworks, 55 are self-portraits.

Kahlo insisted that her birth date was July 7, 1910, but her birth certificate shows July 7, 1907. It is said that Kahlo claimed to have been born in 1910, the year of the outbreak of the Mexican revolution, because she wanted her life to begin together with the modern Mexico. Kahlo was fiercely proud of her heritage and sought to define a Mexican identity through her art. Because of her fierceness and passion, her work is now record-breaking. Her 1939 painting ‘Dos desnudos en el bosque (La tierre misma)’ sold for over $8 million – the highest auction price for any work by a Latin American artist at that time. During her life, Frida was loved all around the world. While in France, she was even wined and dined by Picasso, and appeared on the cover of French Vogue. This powerful connection between Kahlo and the masses has stood the test of time and is still seen in today’s modern society.

Kahlo’s poor health shaped her art. She explored her frustrations with her body through paintings: ‘The Broken Column’ is a particularly prominent artwork depicting herself impaled by the column in her famous bus accident. When she witnessed the healing power of medicine after contracting polio as a child, Kahlo began hoping to become a doctor. However, the injuries she endured from her accident forced her to abandon her studies. On September 17, 1925, Frida was involved in a serious bus accident, which left her with a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, and 11 fractures in her right leg. In addition, her right foot was dislocated and crushed, and her shoulder was out of joint. Because of this, Kahlo underwent approximately 35 operations in her short life.

Kahlo’s path to painting begun with the tragic accident she suffered at age 15, a majority of which are self-portraits. She has stated that “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” Kahlo’s personal style has become a vibrant part of her legacy. She loved to include a symbolic monkey in her paintings; in Mexican mythology, monkeys are symbols of lust, but Kahlo portrayed them as tender and protective symbols. While many have given her the title of being a Surrealist art due to her theatrical and vibrant compositions, Kahlo refused the title, stating that “I never painted dreams. I painted my own realities.”

In 1929, Kahlo married Diego Rivera, who was an artist 20 years older than her. The marriage between Frida and Diego has since been described as the union of an elephant and a dove, with Diego being the elephant and Frida being the dove. From the beginning, the two were madly in love; they were each other’s biggest fan and supporter; however, their marriage was wrought with anger and infidelities that caused them both great deals of pain. Their issues caused them to divorce in 1939, and then remarry a year later in 1940. During their marriage, and time apart, Frida grieved privately and publicly for the children she never had because the bus accident is said to have left her uterus irreparably damaged, making pregnancies impossible to carry to term.

Frida died on July 3, 1954; while there has been a multitude of speculation regarding the cause of her death, including rumors of suicide, it has been reported to be caused by a pulmonary embolism. 4 years prior, Kahlo’s health issues nearly consumed her and she spent nine months in hospital and had several operations after being diagnosed with gangrene in her right foot in 1950. Despite her lack of mobility and overwhelming issues, once home, she continued to paint and support her political cause until they ultimately had to amputate her foot in 1953. In April 1954, Kahlo was yet again hospitalized for a rumored suicide attempt. She returned to hospital two months later with bronchial pneumonia. This still did not stop her from perusing her passions of painting and political activism. The last words written into her diary read: “I hope exit is joyful and I hope never to come back.”

Other facts:

• She was born and died in the same house.

• Her home is now a museum known as the Frida Kahlo Museum.

• Kahlo once arrived at an art show in an ambulance. It was her first solo exhibition in Mexico, but a hospital stay threatened her attendance. However, against doctors’ orders, she pulled up in an ambulance as if in a limo.

• She has several exotic pets including: a few Mexican hairless Xoloitzcuintli, a pair of spider monkeys, an Amazon parrot, a fawn, and an eagle.

• In 1937, Frida had an affair with Leon Trotsky when he was granted political asylum in Mexico and lived with Diego and Frida for the following two years. For Leon’s birthday, Frida gifted Leon with a self-portrait.

• After her death in 1954, Frida’s fame has steadily risen from simply being regarded as a marginal figure to a feminist icon.

• She won tequila challenges with hefty men.

• According to sources, Frida Kahlo was a bisexual. During their marriage, both Diego and Frida had affairs: Frida with both men and women. Diego even had an affair with Frida’s younger sister Cristina. Although in their second marriage the affairs continued, they remained married till Frida’s death.