Pablo Picasso horrifies me. He was a vampire that sucked the soul out of his lovers and put them into into his art and discarded them like used tissues. He stood only 5ft, 4in tall (162.6 cm), but had a preternatural affect on women.
One of his mistresses described Picasso as "a sun all on his own. He lit up, burned, consumed and reduced to ashes anyone who approached him." Picasso's greatest love is reported to have been Marie-Thérèse Walter. She was 17 and Picasso 45 when they begin their affair and Picasso impregnated her. A statue of her was placed over Picasso's grave. She hanged herself four years after Picasso died. Picasso's last wife referred to him as her god. She shot herself 13 years after Picasso's death.
Picasso's newer mistress, Dora Maar, accidentally encountered Marie-Thérèse in Picasso's studio. Marie-Thérèse ordered Picasso to make a choice. Picasso told them they would have to fight it out on their own. They began to wrestle. Picasso describes this as one of his best memories. He immortalized the struggle in a painting entitled Birds In A Cage. A black dove in the painting, representing Dora, fights a beautiful white dove, representing Marie-Thérèse.
Dora won and moved in with Picasso. But when Picasso was through with her, she gave up men forever. After Picasso, Dora wanted a relationship only with god. She once remarked to Picasso: "As an artist you may be extraordinary, but morally speaking you are worthless."
If you could be one of the greatest artists ever if it meant destroying dozens of lovers, would you want to be that artist? I think the price is too high.
Why do you call them destroyed?
ReplyDeleteWhat word you used? A couple of his lovers had mental breakdowns, two committed suicide, another spent most of her life in poverty after they split up. There was only one that survived largely unhurt and they made a film about her. He reduced most women that loved him to a shell of their former self.
ReplyDeleteDid he destroy them, or did the loss of him destroy them?
ReplyDeleteThey didn't leave on their own. They left because they couldn't stand the new mistress and the lack of attention from Picasso. His first wife left when Marie-Thérèse showed up. Marie-Thérèse left after Dora Maar arrived. Françoise Gilot replaced Dora Maar and so on. A woman to Picasso was either a goddess or a doormat.
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