Raquel Villaécija Paris

Paris

Updated Sunday, April 7, 2024-14:55

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Today there are two museums in Paris in which poetic justice has been done. One is the

Rodin Museum

, where, in addition to the sculptor's works, there are also those of

Camille Claudel

. Also a sculptor,

she was his muse

and had a stormy relationship with the artist.

Claudel left him

, but he did not get over the breakup. She was committed to a

psychiatric clinic

, where she spent the last 30 years of her life. The other center is the

Picasso Museum,

which has just dedicated a room to the work of Françoise Gilot, the woman (the only one) who abandoned Pablo Picasso and whose life he tried to make impossible.

The exhibition is called

Revoir Picasso

and part of

it

is dedicated to her. It is curious that it is this museum dedicated to the painter that pays tribute to the

legacy of the artist whose career

, like Claudel's, was overshadowed by

his relationship with the genius.

Françoise Gilot (Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1921-Paris 2023)

began painting when she was seven years old

. Her mother introduced her to watercolors, although her father preferred her to be a lawyer and tried to prevent it. Already as a young woman,

Ella Françoise showed character

and did what she wanted: she left her house and went with her grandmother so she could study painting.

She was 20 years old when she crossed paths with Pablo Picasso. He, 61. It was in 1943. The artist was then with

Dora Maar

. He invited her to see her work and they immediately connected. A complicity was born and he began to

make portraits of her.

It became her source of inspiration, but

she did not abandon the brushes

. He introduced her to other artists and especially

Matisse

, who had a great influence on her work.

Françoise Gilot next to one of her paintingsTONY KORODY

Picasso and Gilot

were 40 years old but they were together for 10 years and had two children,

Claude and Paloma

. She was the only one of the women in Picasso's life who abandoned him. She called him

Bluebeard

. One day she decided to leave him, tired of her character and

her life being subjected to him,

to be able to dedicate herself to his passion. She left the house they lived in in the south of France and returned to Paris.

"No one leaves a man like me

," he told her.

He destroyed the works

she had left in their common home.

She always

continued painting

, despite what it meant to live with the tormented soul that was the man from Malaga. She herself told it in the book

Living with Picasso

,

which was published in 1964, after the breakup, and was translated into more than a dozen languages.

It was very successful, too successful for him, that

he even tried to prevent its publication.

In her pages, she tells what brought the artist together for a decade, but also all the torments she suffered. She describes him as

"egocentric and a tyrant"

and tells what the routines were like, everyone always looking out for him. After the publication, Picasso

spoke to the gallery owners and personalities

from the art world that he knew so that they would close the doors of their galleries to him.

Françoise Gilot portrayed in 1993 with some of her worksCARLOS MIRALLES

The National Audiovisual Institute of France (INA) collects a video interview in which Françoise tells what her life was like. The interviewer asks him what

an everyday day with Picasso

was like . She answers the following: "The day started earlier for me than for him, especially when

the children were born.

I did a lot of things, I prepared everything and he slept until noon. Then

he would get up very pessimistic

. We had to constantly give him reasons. to agree to live one more day. We tried to entertain him in every way possible.

In the morning it was terrible.

He also said that, despite everything, he tried to paint, when he didn't have to take care of getting him out of bed or cheering him up. In fact, his work was appreciated and one of Picasso's collaborators suggested that he exhibit in several

galleries in Paris, London and New York

. The publication of the book opened doors for him while Picasso closed others for him. Many artists turned their backs on him.

Gilot tried to continue with her career

and his life in the United States.

In the book she says that one day, during a fight, Picasso

burned her face with a cigarette.

She got the scar. In one of Françoise Picasso's portraits

she drew a black spot

, like a mole, on her face.

Françoise Gilot

died on June 6 at the

age of 101. The omnipresence of the painter overshadowed a prolific and brave work, which moves forward despite the obstacles. The French artist, now recognized in the Picasso Museum,

created some 1,600 canvases and more than 3,000 designs.