Picasso’s passion

Written by Victoria Baker
Thursday, 19 November 2009 01:00

“All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up,” said Pablo Picasso. He was referring to the loss of imagination and wonderment we all experience as we mature into adulthood.

Picasso fans will be thrilled to learn of the upcoming Greenwich Arts Council exhibition of original Picasso drawings, prints, ceramics and vintage posters. This exhibit will run from Dec. 3 to Jan. 17, 2010. The opening reception will be on Thursday, Dec. 3, from 6 to 8:30. Etchings on paper will include Picasso’s 1953 image of Francoise, Claude and Paloma Picasso reading and playing at home, or etchings signed with the Picasso atelier stamp. It promises to be a delight for true Picasso fans. For more information, visit Greenwicharts.org.

Some of his fans find Picasso’s love life even more interesting than his artistic one. The list of ladies who were heartbroken and suffered his many infidelities is long, yet deterred none of them.

In 1904, Picasso met Fernande, a regular in some of his Rose Period paintings. He soon left her for Eva, often featured in his Cubist paintings. But in 1918 he married Olga, a ballerina in Sergei Diaghilev’s Paris troupe. She was a high society type, he was the wealthy Bohemian type, and their marriage suffered from it. French law obliged him to give Olga half his fortune should they divorce and Picasso displayed his fundamentally anti-bohemian nature by preferring to remain separated to avoid these costs.

His most interesting encounter was with Françoise Gilot. They had two children. She was the first woman who left him because of his infidelities and the vengeful Picasso never forgot it. Françoise went on to marry another man and Picasso met Jacqueline Roque, who was to be his last female companion.

When Françoise sought to legitimize and secure the rights of her children, Claude and Paloma, by divorcing her then husband and marrying Picasso — he encouraged her. But as soon as Françoise divorced he secretly married Jacqueline, thus achieving the ultimate revenge on Françoise for having left him earlier. As the offender who caused their romantic demise, his revenge seems extraordinarily unjust, speaking volumes about Picasso’s character.

“Everything you can imagine is real,” Picasso said. It sounds like he was a student of Descartes’ “I think therefore I am” theory. Perhaps it’s true, the only limitations we have are the ones we force upon ourselves. But even as I write this, a dozen contradictions spring to mind. No doubt they are a result of society’s conditioning of my thoughts, and I should brush them away just as fiercely as Picasso brushed away centuries of art history and ushered us into the future.

Victoria Baker of Greenwich is an opera singer. She teaches piano and voice privately in Greenwich. Questions, call 531-7499 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .