Francoise Gilot This summer, French artist Francoise Gilot died in a clinic in Manhattan. The mother of two children of the great Pablo Picasso was 101 years old.
In 1964, Gilot published a memoir, My Life with Picasso. The book so outraged the artist that he broke all ties with Francoise and their two children.
They met at the Catalan restaurant in German-occupied Paris. It was May 1943, Pablo was 61 years old, Zhilo – 21. Picasso at that time lived with the Yugoslav artist Dora Maar, but this did not stop him from becoming interested in Francoise. In the photo, she represented him as a “beautiful animal”, in reality he turned out to be like “a statue of an Egyptian scribe from the Louvre.” Pablo invited the girl to his workshop.
– He turned sharply and kissed me on the lips – describes the first onslaught Gilot. – I didn’t resist. Picasso looked at me in surprise. “Do you mind?” – he asked. I replied: “Why on earth?” It seemed to shock him: “Disgusting,” he said. “You should have at least pushed me away.” – “I’m at your service”. – “Are you in love with me?” I replied that I can not say this, but I like it.
Followed up a week later.
– Using the already familiar technique, he led me into the bedroom. “Have you read the Marquis de Sade?” I answered no. “Aha! I shocked you, didn’t I?” he asked with a very proud air. I said no. He was disappointed, says Françoise.
Put me naked on my knees
With a new girlfriend, the artist did not stand on ceremony.
“I want to see if your body matches the mental image I made,” he said. I stood, Picasso undressed me … Having finished with this, he sat down on the bed and called me to him. I approached, and he, pulling me down, put me on my knees … I was ready to accept the consequences, but, frankly, I didn’t really want to. What I could do, I would do to please him, not from the bottom of my heart. He laid me down and lay down next to me. He looked with deep tenderness, lightly running his hand over my body. He was very affectionate, and that feeling of his extraordinary affection remains with me to this day. I lay in his arms completely happy … – writes Zhilo.
Alas, Picasso was not always like this.
– When in the moments of our closeness Pablo was especially gentle, the next time he invariably became cruel and rude. Apparently, he thought that he could afford everything with everyone, and I accepted “everything” with great difficulty. From time to time he would say, “Don’t think that I will become attached to you forever. Don’t think that you mean anything to me. I value my independence.” Once Pablo said to me: “I don’t know why I called you. It would be more fun to go to a brothel. Because of you, I lost all desire to go there.” Of course, I knew that he was not such a fan of “public” women, – recalls Francoise.
Françoise with her second husband, renowned virologist Jonas Salk (1970)
Picasso did not favor either women or men.
– For me, there are only two types of women – goddesses and bedding. And every time, suspecting that I feel too much of a goddess, he tried with all his might to turn me into a bedding … For me, other people are like these specks of dust. It is worth holding a broom, and they will disappear, – Gilo quotes the genius. – Pablo had a characteristic method of dealing with people: like with skittles – hit one with a ball to knock down another.
ungrateful creature
In 1947, Francoise gave birth to a son, Claude, from Picasso, in 1949, a daughter, Paloma. She was the only woman who left the great artist herself. At this time, Pablo was sleeping with a young Mamselle de Laser and a married pregnant lady.
– There was no stability in our relations. I was aware of his adventures. We had to think about the children. I wanted to leave and see if I could survive on my own. I lived in his shadow for ten years,” Zhilo explains.
– “Women do not leave people like me,” Picasso was surprised. – He didn’t get it in his head. So famous and rich? I could only laugh at such a complete misunderstanding of the woman with whom I had lived for many years, writes Francoise. – He taught me a lot, but I gave him a lot. Everything that I received, I paid with my own blood … He had a watch on his hand, my gift. He plucked them and threw them at me: “I hope you will be sorry, ungrateful creature!” he shouted. – Do you imagine that people will show interest in you? Do not get your hopes up”.
So that the memoirs would not see the light, the artist sued three times, but lost all the processes.
After the breakup, 72-year-old Picasso married 26-year-old Jacqueline Roque the same year and did everything to ruin Francoise’s life. Using his name and connections, he tried in vain to ban galleries from exhibiting Gilot’s paintings. However, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Pompidou Center in Paris willingly acquired Françoise’s paintings, and a portrait of her daughter Paloma was sold at auction for $ 1.3 million. The University of Southern California considered it an honor to invite Françoise to head the department of fine arts. It is not surprising that such a wonderful woman was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.
She also found personal happiness: first she married the artist Luc Simon, and then the famous scientist, the creator of the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk.
Bear in mind
In the film “Live life with Picasso” (1996), the role of Françoise Gilot was played by Natasha McElhone, Pablo – Anthony Hopkins.
Photo source: AP/TASS
