Althouse: "Six months after they met... [Jonas] Salk asked [Picasso's ex-lover Françoise] Gilot to marry him...."

August 4, 2020

"Six months after they met... [Jonas] Salk asked [Picasso's ex-lover Françoise] Gilot to marry him...."

"When Jonas proposed, she had replied, 'A relationship would be all right, but I don’t want to get married.... Because I don’t want to live with anybody more than six months a year. That’s it. I need my own time to myself, plus I have my children.' Jonas handed her a piece of paper. 'Write down everything that you don’t want,' he directed. 'I’ll give you an hour.' Françoise proceeded to write down those elements that would make the marriage unsuitable for her. Jonas read it over. 'Very good. It fits my life perfectly.' 'But we don’t know each other,' she cautioned, 'and it may be disastrous because you’re a scientist, and our lives are very far apart.' 'No,' Jonas countered, in what seemed more like a business transaction than a romantic moment, 'even if we’re not so happy, at least we’ll be like a citadel; we’ll be a fortress for each other.' Françoise thought about it. Both felt exhausted by the world and sought a refuge.... Though many could not fathom their marital arrangement, Salk and Gilot’s relationship matured as they grew to know each other better. 'We found new discoveries all the time,' Gilot recalled. And Salk maintained, 'I have achieved in terms of personal relationships as much with Françoise as I could possibly fantasize.' When asked in an interview how she had ended up with two of history’s most powerful men, Gilot replied: 'Lions mate with lions.'"

From "The Last Love of Jonas Salk/The unusual union of a renowned artist and the discoverer of the Polio vaccine" (Nautilus).

43 comments:

iowan2 said...: Living with opposites, and accepting that, will be more satisfying than trying to find a person as much like you as possible, and have the small differences grate on you.

The key here, most are blind to? Acceptence. A truly liberating life affirming skill, if you care to hone it.; 8/4/20, 9:41 AM
madAsHell said...: My son went to high school with on of the Salk grandkids, and surprisingly, they were good friends.; 8/4/20, 9:48 AM
Fernandinande said...: 'Lions mate with lions.'

If had they acted like lions, Salk would've killed Gilot's children she had with/by Picasso, and then Gilot would've gone into heat.; 8/4/20, 9:56 AM
rcocean said...: Her art work looks a lot like Picasso's. Looks just as good, in fact. But that's the thing about cubism and abstract art, there's not a lot of difference between good work and great work. Let me dissent on the worship of Salk. People forget that Albert sabin created the oral vaccine that truly destroyed polio. Salk did it first, but Sabin did it better.; 8/4/20, 10:03 AM
gerry said...: So Salk leaned over to Francoise when he wanted to propose and asked "Can you lend me an ear?"; 8/4/20, 10:08 AM
Bob Smith said...: Anybody my age would propose Jonas Saulk for sainthood. Every summer was a crapshoot.; 8/4/20, 10:10 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I'd like a deeper examination of "I’ll give you an hour."; 8/4/20, 10:20 AM
Ann Althouse said...: You could write a roman a clef about them and title it "I'll give you an hour." Make it everything that goes through her head in that hour and ending with his "Very good. It fits my life perfectly."

By the way, her book "Life with Picasso" is a great read. I'd reread that.; 8/4/20, 10:21 AM
Ann Althouse said...: You could mine "Life with Picasso" for everything that goes through her head in that hour. What she wouldn't want is all the things that were wrong with what had happened with Picasso.; 8/4/20, 10:23 AM
DavidUW said...: Marriages would work better generally speaking if negotiations like this were conducted prior to the wedding.; 8/4/20, 10:24 AM
traditionalguy said...: High intelligence appreciates high intelligence. The mind’s perceptions are better shared with another person at the same level. Without that, there is only frustration. Glad to hear Dr Salk got him a good woman. He deserved all good things.; 8/4/20, 10:36 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: "I'd like a deeper examination of 'I’ll give you an hour.'"

We know someone locally who got married similarly. The day after their first date, the man proposed.

"This is sudden! I need time to think about it."

"Okay, I'll call you in an hour."

They've been married for fifty years now.; 8/4/20, 10:46 AM
Swede said...: Sometimes all you really want is a piece of ass.; 8/4/20, 10:51 AM
Eleanor said...: Most smart men marry smart women. Are there any smart women who choose to marry dumb guys?; 8/4/20, 10:52 AM
Nancy said...: Lions mating with lions: hard to beat Alma Schindler, who married in succession Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius, and Franz Werfel.; 8/4/20, 11:00 AM
Michael K said...: Picasso tried very hard to seduce Sarah Murphy and eventually painted himself out of a painting of her. He was a bit of a rogue.

Sabin's vaccine was more important than Salk's but Salk got there first. Actually, a man named Maurice Brodie developed the first killed Polio vaccine in 1935. John Kolmer actually was slightly ahead of Brodie. Both had cases of fatal polio in the children inoculated and vaccine development was set back 20 years. Enders' tissue culture growth of the virus was a huge step and was responsible for Salk and Sabin's success.; 8/4/20, 11:02 AM
Bob Loblaw said...: Lions mate with lions.

Uh huh. Browsing Gilot's wiki, the section about her relationship to Picasso comes before any mention of her own work. Indeed, the article comes to more than a full page and includes a section titled "Gilot's work". Yet this is the only mention of her art:

Although Picasso had influenced Françoise Gilot's work as a cubist painter, she developed her own style. She avoided the sharp edges and angular forms that Picasso sometimes used. Instead, she used organic figures.

"Lions".; 8/4/20, 11:10 AM
Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said...: Why do I despise these people?; 8/4/20, 11:11 AM
Temujin said...: Another great post that led me down a welcome rabbit hole. So much to read, so little time.; 8/4/20, 11:17 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Love in the Age of No Polio.; 8/4/20, 11:35 AM
MayBee said...: I would like to examine the transitive property of Salk mating with Picasso via Gilot.
I believe this is a thing, or at least I would like to start people thinking it is.; 8/4/20, 11:45 AM
mockturtle said...: I rather like the six-month plan.; 8/4/20, 12:09 PM
J Lee said...: At least Gale Garnett gave her temporary partners a full year....; 8/4/20, 12:39 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: I heard Jonas Salk only 'gave up the polio vaccine' after he realized he fucked up the patenting process by prior disclosure of the invention. Not to take away from the amazing discovery. Society clearly couldn't handle iron lungs today. My guess is the pro-choice movement would have expanded ideas of pro-choice if polio were still a thing.; 8/4/20, 12:54 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: This is my favorite part.
Salk knew almost nothing about art, and Gilot could not converse about science, but they had one common interest, modern architecture. That was a start.
I'm certainly no artist myself, but I like that this is the common interest. Architects seem to dwell that weird area between art and function. I think most famous architects like to think of themselves more like artists and most architects like to thin of themselves as functionalists (engineers). But this is a good area for two different minds to join.

This calls to mind one of my favorite things that Trump has done which is set a preference for Classical style architecture for Federal buildings. Brutalism is a pall on humanity. If that becomes the preferred art style we might as well off ourselves.; 8/4/20, 1:10 PM
R C Belaire said...: I don't remember ever going into the water at the city park until after the vaccinations were available.; 8/4/20, 1:34 PM
mikee said...: Eleanor, smart women marry "dumb" guys all the time. My spouse, for example, married me. She has better academic credentials, got her MD at the best medical school in the state, did her residency at Hopkins, and has 30+ years of successful practice. I was a middling college student, took 5 years to get my PhD, worked several jobs but never really had a career, and now I build houses - having been fired from my last technical job. I'm a lucky guy, and got her to marry me by loving her. Maybe I'm sorta smart, after all.; 8/4/20, 1:37 PM
Robert Cook said...: "People forget that Albert sabin created the oral vaccine that truly destroyed polio. Salk did it first, but Sabin did it better."

In other words, Sabin improved on something discovered/developed by Salk. Greater kudos still go to Salk. Improvements on existing innovations are important, and inevitable, but do not require the creativity and long, hard work of the initial innovation.; 8/4/20, 2:41 PM
Fritz said...: Nancy said...
Lions mating with lions: hard to beat Alma Schindler, who married in succession Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius, and Franz Werfel.

And had Tom Lehrer write a song about her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL6KgbrGSKQ; 8/4/20, 2:42 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Why do I despise these people?"

Yes...why do you?; 8/4/20, 2:47 PM
Sebastian said...: "what had happened with Picasso"

Deciding to live with Picasso for any length of time does not show good judgment.

On the other hand, it was many women's ride to fame and reflected glory.

The patriarchy makes some women look better.; 8/4/20, 3:14 PM
Nichevo said...: In other words, Sabin improved on something discovered/developed by Salk. Greater kudos still go to Salk. Improvements on existing innovations are important, and inevitable, but do not require the creativity and long, hard work of the initial innovation.

I believe you are mistaken. Kevin's vaccine was not killed but "weakened" or as I believe we now say inactivated. Different concepts, one isn't just the other with a turbocharger.; 8/4/20, 4:28 PM
n.n said...: Lions mate with lions... that's so specieist. That said, even lions, while the male is favored, are equal and complementary in a pride. Reconcile.; 8/4/20, 4:46 PM
dustbunny said...: Does her comment imply sheep marry sheep?; 8/4/20, 4:54 PM
Scotty, beam me up... said...: The Genius: Picasso miniseries on the NatGeo Channel in 2019 did a good job of showing the relationship between Francoise Gilot & Picasso. Later on in the show, the series showed Picasso meeting Francoise & Salk but didn’t really cover their relationship as the show was about Picasso. The article you linked to, Ann, did a great job of providing info about Gilot’s life after Picasso. Thank you, Ann!; 8/4/20, 5:30 PM
readering said...: Reading about Gilot's life with Picasso makes me curious to finally watch the tv series, Genius, with Antonio Banderas as Picasso and Clémence Poésy as Gilot (although he's too young for Picasso and she's too old for Gilot).; 8/4/20, 5:36 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "what had happened with Picasso"

Picasso was always trying to put a square peg in a round hole.; 8/4/20, 5:45 PM
effinayright said...: When I was a young guy, I was pretty much a STEM person, with a dollop of interest in history on the side. I particularly enjoyed Art History.

I taught myself to play classical guitar---badly, but still enough to develop an interest in Baroque music.

Years later, a woman at work fixed me up with her sister. Said sister turned out to be a gorgeous Juilliard graduate, a dance major who focused on...the Baroque period.

She knew the dances, I knew the music they were written for.

SHAZZAM!!

We've been married more than 30 years.; 8/4/20, 5:48 PM
traditionalguy said...: Jonas Salk was a flu vaccine expert that figured out he could to do a safe and effective vaccine for polio 3 years before Saban could get his different vaccine ready. The asshole Saban went to propaganda war to stop Saban so he could get the patent loot and the fame. So what if 150,000 more paralyzed children had to pay the price. The anti-Salk comments Come from that propaganda war and are still being regurgitated today. Talk about a sore loser.; 8/4/20, 5:52 PM
Michael K said...: In other words, Sabin improved on something discovered/developed by Salk.

No, ignoramus. Salk improved on something done before by others in the 1930s. Sabin's work was unrelated to Salk. You are getting as stupid as Inga.; 8/4/20, 6:23 PM
Michael K said...: tradguy, Your comment is incoherent. Sabin is the guy who really ended polio.; 8/4/20, 7:45 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Picasso was always trying to put a square peg in a round hole."

More like one round peg in multiple holes.

(I don't miss what I think is your humorous reference to Cubism.); 8/4/20, 8:37 PM
RMc said...: Are there any smart women who choose to marry dumb guys?

My wife, for one.; 8/5/20, 5:13 AM