Life with Picasso

This is an epic journey over only a decade, and I think Gilot is absolutely amazing. While the book is supposed to be about Picasso, I’ve decided that he was a giant asshole with a few good insights (but the narcissism along with the mansplaining overrides everything that could potentially be good) and would rather continue to learn more about Gilot. You can tell that she has one of those total recall memories which is amazing as she wrote this about ten years after the ten years she’s writing about. But mostly her self awareness shines when needed, and I want to know more about this woman who literally just turned 101 years old; it’s nice to know she’s still surviving almost sixty years after writing this book. Also I loved the show more little chapters about so many varying characters throughout the French world of art and letters; you could take one and expand it into a whole novel or screenplay. show less

A fun read. Despite his being an arrogant, sexist little ass, she treats him quite fairly and her observations and explanations about his art processes are really quite good. She also has some hilarious stories involving his eccentricities and general home life that are a lot of fun. It was a different time, in so many ways.

I appreciate that some question the co-writer's free use of quotes around lengthy passages by Picasso, as if they were verbatim. Perhaps that was an editor's decision. Gilot is known for apparently having a photographic memory, in addition to having kept a journal and being in possession of many letters from Picasso. For me that was a minor nit. I loved it.

Not the first woman in Pablo then already a father twice over, and not the last, Françoise Gilot was there from the closing months of the Paris occupation to the post-pottery years of a septuagenarian Picasso. An artist herself and the model for La Femme-Fleur, the love affair between Pablo Picasso, aged 61, and Françoise Gilot opens Act I of a story that covers much about Picasso's approach to and passion for creation, as well as moody narcissism and vindictiveness as well as the panoply of luminaries: Matisse, Gertrude Stein, Apollinaire, Cocteau, etc. Apparently gifted with a detailed memory and also holding back very little, this is a fascinating memoir or woman at loose ends finding herself over a decade as Picasso's lover and show more then wife in the late 40s into the 50s. show less

I'm not much of an intellectual (although I enjoy their company) and certainly not when it comes to art. I've never been a Picasso fan, and yet artists always fascinate me. Gilot is a painter herself. She understood and could discuss art very well, and that was one of her most important attributes for Picasso. The parts of the book where she talked about the how and why of Picasso's painting and sculpture were the least interesting for me. But the rest -- his character, their friends, the war years, her feelings and perceptions, and their relationship, were all fascinating. I thought the last two sentences of the book a bit gratuitous, but what the heck.

I think I've said more than once on LT that I can't stand celebrity memoirs, but I think I will have to make an exception for this memoir by Picasso's second wife (or was she his third? can't remember). I liked it a lot, because she focuses on the art. There is a lot of insight and information on Picasso's art, as well as his bombastic personality. It was during their marriage that Picasso began experimenting with ceramics, and I had not previously been aware of Picasso's ceramics.

Gilot was an art student herself when she became involved in Picasso's circles immediately prior to WW II, and in later life became a serious artist in her own right. There's not a lot of "celebrity" gossip, though of course there is lots of information about show more other artists of the time. I particularly enjoyed learning about Matisse, and how different his personality style was from Picasso's. The two enjoyed a friendly rivalry.

Recommended for those interested in art.

4 stars show less

Gilot once said that lions only mate with lionesses, and she certainly holds no fangs back in her writing. A deeply philosophical and wonderfully contrarian artist.

After Dali, Picasso has always been my second favorite artist, while a cluster of others are right behind both. Sadly, after having read a number of books both by and about each, in this case Picasso, I feel like I've been left a little saddened and disillusioned about some of these men, artists. Some of them simply were not very good people and while it's certainly not new for creative types, creative geniuses, to be eccentric, antisocial, narcissistic, flat out insane or any combo of things, it's still disappointing, to me anyway, so I've been trying to focus on the works, the art, and not the artist so much, because we all have our warts and who am I to judge? Thus, I'll continue to focus on the artistic brilliances of these and show more other gifted artists, writers, etc., and I'll do my best to be content with that... show less