Françoise Giraud, an acclaimed painter who has produced art for more than half a century, but is best known for his difficult relationship with, and split from, Pablo Picasso, announced Tuesday at 101 in New York City. died of age.
Gilot’s daughter, Aurelia Engel, told The Associated Press that her mother had both lung and heart problems and died at Mount Sinai West Hospital.
“She was a very talented artist and we will continue to work on her legacy and the wonderful paintings and works she left us with,” Engel said.
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Artist Françoise Giraud poses with his work at his solo exhibition in Milan, December 21, 1965. (AP photo, file)
Gilot met Picasso, then 61, in 1943, when he was just 21. They had two children, Claude Picasso and Paloma Picasso, but she left him in shock in 1953.
“He didn’t expect it to come,” Engel said. “She was there because she loved him, and because she truly believed in the incredible passion they shared for art.[But]she was free, very young and , but came as a very independent person.”
“She was a very talented artist.”
Gilot, 94, told The Guardian that he left Picasso “of his own accord”.
“I was there of my own accord and left of my own accord,” she told the outlet. “That’s what I said to him once before I left. I said, ‘Be careful. I came when I wanted to go. But I’ll be home when I want to.'” He said, “No one leaves a man like me alone.” I said, “Let’s see.” “
Artist Françoise Giraud appears during an interview in connection with the publication of Reginald Bosanque’s book My Life with Picasso on March 3, 1965 in London. (AP Photo/Bob Deere)
Pablo Picasso poses for a photo in his Paris studio. (Bettmann / Contributor)
In 1964 Gilot published a tell-all book titled A Life with Picasso, detailing his tumultuous relationship with the famous artist. An angry Picasso tried to ban its publication, but failed.
“He attacked her in court and lost three times,” Engel recalls. “After her third loss, he called her and congratulated her. I think he was proud of that.”
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Her life with Picasso was also portrayed in the 1996 film Picasso Survives.
Gilot has since remarried twice. She married first to artist Luc Simon and then to Dr. Jonas Salk, an American virologist known for his work on polio vaccines. He died in his 1995.
Polio vaccine developer Dr. Jonas Salk (right) and artist Françoise Giraud arrive after a civil wedding at Neuilly City Hall in Paris on June 30, 1970. (AP Photo/Laurent Lebourg)
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Giraud was born on November 26, 1921 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris. she was an only child.
“She wanted to be a painter when she was five,” said Engel.
However, her parents wanted her to study law. Gilot finally began publishing her work in 1943. In the same year she met Picasso and an unforgettable romance began.
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“I was 21 and already felt that painting was my whole life,” Gillot writes in Life with Picasso.
She added that when Picasso asked her and her friend what they were doing, they said the friend was a painter. Picasso is said to have replied, “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard today. A girl who looks like that can’t be a painter.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
