Françoise Gilot (1921-2023)

A French artist of the post-World War II School of Paris, Françoise Gilot is perhaps most famous as a muse and lover to Pablo Picasso.

While her story may be inextricably linked to 20th century art’s most towering figure, Gilot’s remarkable life and vast oeuvre deserves recognition on its own merits.

In a career spanning over seven decades, Gilot’s distinct language of form and color reveals an enduring preoccupation with both the personal and universal forces of nature, time, space and mythology.

Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot with Picasso’s nephew on the Côte d’Azur in 1951 | Photograph: Robert Capa

Born in 1921 in a Paris suburb, Gilot evinced an early love for the arts, deciding at age five that she would become a painter.

She was mentored by the surrealist Endre Rozsda, and had her first major exhibition in Paris in 1943.

That same year, Gilot, then 21, met the 61-year-old Picasso, and the two began a decade-long relationship resulting in the births of two children, Claude and Paloma.

During this time, Gilot exerted a profound influence on Picasso’s work, with his biographer John Richardson acknowledging that "[he] took from her rather more than she took from him".

In 1964, eleven years after the relationship’s dissolution, Gilot published Life with Picasso, a complicated portrait of life in the orbit of genius, which sold over one million copies in its first year.

In 1969, Gilot met Dr. Jonas Salk, renowned for discovering the polio vaccine, and the two were soon married.

They remained together until his death in 1995.

During this period, Gilot maintained studios in La Jolla, New York and Paris.

Her style evolved toward a greater interest in highly saturated color and formal composition, and she began experimenting with lithographs and aquatints.

In 2010, Gilot was made an Officer of the Legion d’Honneur, the French government’s highest honor for the arts.

In August 2018, Gilot released a facsimile edition of three sketchbooks documenting her travels throughout Venice, India and Senegal.

Gilot’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Women’s Museum, Washington D.C.; the Musée Picasso, Antibes; the Musée Tel Aviv, Israel; and the Bibliothèque Nationale and Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris.

Gilot currently lives and works in New York City and continues to exhibit internationally. | Source: © Sotheby's

Pablo Picasso | Portrait de Françoise, 1946 | Musee National Picasso, Paris

Françoise Gilot | Portrait of Virginia Woolf

Marie Françoise Gilot (Neuilly-sur-Seine, 26 novembre 1921 - New York, 6 giugno 2023) è stata una pittrice Francese, compagna e musa di Pablo Picasso e poi moglie di Jonas Salk.

Aveva iniziato gli studi di diritto ma la passione per l'arte la portò al disegno ed alla pittura, tracce dell'influenza della madre, un'acquarellista.

Nel maggio 1943, incontrò in un ristorante a Parigi Pablo Picasso, allora amante di Dora Maar.

Françoise aveva 21 anni e lui 61: dal 1944 al 1953 fu la compagna del pittore spagnolo.

Dalla relazione nacquero due figli, Claude (1947-2023) e Paloma (1949).

Durante il loro periodo di vita comune, Picasso la rappresentò nella figura Femme fleur del quadro Joie de vivre, dove appare solare e radiosa.

Françoise fu soggetto anche per un celebre quadro di Henri Matisse, al quale Picasso fece conoscere Gilot.

Anche dopo la separazione dall'artista continuò ad esercitare l'arte della pittura.

Nel 1955 sposò l'artista Luc Simon.

Ebbero una figlia, Aurelia, ma divorziarono nel 1962.

Nel 1964 pubblicò Vivre avec Picasso, un libro relativamente intimo sulla loro vita in comune, che incontrò enorme successo e qualche critica.

Il testo mandò in collera Picasso, che arriverà a rifiutare di rivedere i suoi figli.

Nel 1969 conobbe lo scienziato Jonas Salk, che sposò l'anno seguente: i due rimasero uniti fino alla morte dell'uomo nel 1995.

Morì ultracentenaria nel giugno del 2023.

Il figlio Claude le sopravvisse solo due mesi.