Said Picasso to Françoise Gilot, quoted in "Françoise Gilot, Artist in the Shadow of Picasso, Is Dead at 101/An accomplished painter (and memoirist) in her own right, she was long his lover until she did what no other mistress of his had ever done: She walked out."
Her fantastic memoir, "Life With Picasso," was published in 1964. I read it around 1974.
We were just talking about Picasso on this blog 4 days ago. There's a show at the Brooklyn Museum dealing with his relationship to women. Because of that I looked up Gilot and was surprised to see that she was still alive and 101 years old.
From the obituary:
[Picasso] portrayed Ms. Gilot as a nymph to his centaur — he apparently now felt that he had conquered her and began seeing other women. She gave birth to Claude in May 1947 and Paloma in April 1949.... [O]n Sept. 20, 1953, unwell and unhappy, Ms. Gilot told Picasso that she was going to leave him.
“No woman leaves a man like me,” he replied, according to her account in “Life With Picasso.” She wrote: “I told him maybe that was the way it looked to him, but I was one woman who would, and was about to. A man as famous and as rich as he? He couldn’t believe it, he said.”
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“No woman leaves a man like me,” he replied, according to her account in “Life With Picasso.” She wrote: “I told him maybe that was the way it looked to him, but I was one woman who would, and was about to. A man as famous and as rich as he? He couldn’t believe it, he said.”
Sounds like Johnathan Richman could have been wrong: maybe Pablo Picasso was called an asshole?
Well some people try to pick up girls
And get called asshole
This never happened to Pablo Picasso
He could walk down your street
And girls could not resist his stare and
So Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole
Well the girls would turn the color
Of the avocado when he would drive
Down their street in his El Dorado
He could walk down your street
And girls could not resist his stare
Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole
Not like you
Alright
Well he was only five foot three
But girls could not resist his stare
Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole
Not in New York
"[O]n Sept. 20, 1953, unwell and unhappy,"
Is there more? Why did she leave? Is there anything within the flowery internal dialog of this obit that actually suffices as a reason? I smell more "irreconcilable differences", aka the female veto.
“ Is there more?”
Read the book. He was awful to her. Very controlling and emotionally manipulating various other women at the same time.
Very controlling and emotionally manipulating various other women at the same time.
According to modern jurisprudence, the frustration of unrequited love is only exceeded by the defamation of unrequited rape.
"Read the book. He was awful to her."
[Insert "That's what she said" GIF from The Office here.]
This whole idea that feminism has that we are supposed to pretend we aren't members of the animal kingdom is ridiculous.
Sounds like Johnathan Richman could have been wrong: maybe Pablo Picasso was called an asshole?
Not in New York.
@ Wince
I thought of that song the other day on the other post about Pablo Picasso. I loved that Repo Man soundtrack!
Believe all women?
I wonder what Picasso would have to say.
"He was awful to her."
But with extraordinary gentleness.
No “maybes” about it.
I’d add a f/king to that.
Ann Althouse said, "Read the book. He was awful to her. Very controlling and emotionally manipulating various other women at the same time."
Ok I will. The very controlling I could understand. Emotionally manipulating is super subjective, so I'll dig into that in a bit more detail. Thanks.
Believe all women?
It's a Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice ethical/religious world. Believe some, select women.
A true gentlehole, was old Pablo.
He was right about their relative interest to future generations, of course, and it's nice that she repeated it.
He cast his female companions with a leading role from behind in an open relationship. Very fashion forward in the precursor to a modern family.
How brave of a 31 year old woman to leave a 71 y/o rich man. I guess she realized she wouldn't inherit his fortune. BTW, Picasso formally joined the Communist Party in 1944, and was proud supporter of Stalin and the USSR till the day he died.
A rich communist. Not the contridiction you may think it is.
He was very gentle.
He was 62. Before viagra.
"Read the book. He was awful to her. Very controlling and emotionally manipulating various other women at the same time."
They just wanna, they just wann-uh-uh-uh!
I read the book, but only remember three things, the photo with Picasso holding the umbrella over her, the photo with scorpions on the wall (or maybe it was an incident), and Picasso pointing out a penis graffiti when he was after her. She later married Jonas Salk, she must have been an interesting woman as well as an accomplished artist.
I read the book, but only remember three things, the photo with Picasso holding the umbrella over her, the photo with scorpions on the wall (or maybe it was an incident), and Picasso pointing out a penis graffiti when he was after her. She later married Jonas Salk, she must have been an interesting woman as well as an accomplished artist.
After all, she lived her life. She learned not to need celebrity and (another's) fame. She didn't need all the people only interested in her because she knew Picasso. She realized what life is; she just needed a few for herself.
Sara Murphy according to most reliable witnesses was the most beautiful woman in the Paris of the Twenties. She was featured in novels by Fitzgerald (Tender Is the Night) and Hemingway (The Garden of Eden). Picasso painted her three times. He had a thing for her, but she didn't have any trouble turning him down....She and her husband were talented artists but so wealthy they didn't have to pursue art as a vocation....She had two sons who both died young. One had TB. She was by his side at a sanitarium when the other son acquired some kind of mastoid infection and died before his dying brother.. There are worse tragedies in a woman's life than being mistreated by Picasso.
Ann Althouse said...Read the book. He was awful to her. Very controlling and emotionally manipulating various other women at the same time.
Picasso was known to be a monster towards the women in his life. Even his own descriptions could be horrifying.
"This whole idea that feminism has that we are supposed to pretend we aren't members of the animal kingdom is ridiculous."
We are members of the animal kingdom who have the capacity to curb our innate animal drives and moderate our behaviors. This is what feminism recognizes...and rightly expects.
"How brave of a 31 year old woman to leave a 71 y/o rich man. I guess she realized she wouldn't inherit his fortune."
Why do you assume Gilot's intention in becoming Picasso's lover was ever to inherit Picasso's fortune, rather than that she was attracted to Picasso as a man? She was an independent, intelligent woman of her own mind and with her own interests and talents. She was an artist before and after her years with Picasso.
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