Jun 9, 2025
The master's fame and talent always attracted many beautiful women.
Today we'll talk about the Spanish genius Pablo Picasso, born in Malaga on October 25, 1881.
The artist created more than 13,500 paintings throughout his life, most of which are dedicated to female images.
Pablo Picasso was a contradictory and complex person. He possessed brilliant charisma, wit, and the ability to think creatively. At the same time, his personality was distinguished by self-centeredness, unpredictability, and even cruelty in personal relationships.
Picasso possessed a powerful masculine energy, amazing charm, and his charisma, like a magnet, attracted the attention of women and captivated their hearts.
The entire life of the brilliant 92-year-old painter is filled with fragments of women's hearts. "For me, there are only two types of women: goddesses and doormats," he said.
Fernande Olivier
His first serious passion was the model Fernande Olivier, whom he met in Paris when he was 23 and she was just 18. The young woman posed for numerous artists and, after becoming a model for the aspiring artist Pablo Picasso, became his muse and beloved for nearly seven years. This was reflected in Picasso's painting style: the somber "blue" period gave way to the "rose" period, with nude motifs dominated by pastel colors and rounded lines.
They lived in poverty; the artist's income barely allowed him to make ends meet.
As their relationship developed, the artist's style also changed.
Soon, the images of his beloved's face in his paintings began to take on sharp features, similar to African masks. The African period gave way to Cubism.
Fernande became the model for the painting "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," which depicted women of easy virtue. During arguments, he joked that he saw her as one of them. After seven years of marriage, they separated.
Marcelle Humbert (Eva Gouel)
Picasso's next passionate love was the diminutive Marcelle Humbert, whom he affectionately called Eva, emphasizing that she was his first truly beloved woman.
When they met, they were both in a relationship: Picasso was still in a relationship with Fernande, who by then had become hysterical and excessively jealous, and Marcelle was the lover of Louis Marcoussis, a Polish painter.
Both, overcome by passion, fled together to wander through Europe.
Marcelle was fragile, calm, and gentle, the complete opposite of the tall and boisterous Fernande.
Picasso dedicated a series of paintings to her, "I Love Eve." In the artist's portraits, Eve is depicted throughout as a symbol of grace, lightness, and weightlessness. Pablo often depicted her as a musical instrument: a violin or a guitar. Their happiness didn't last long; Marcelle fell ill with tuberculosis and died shortly after. Picasso grieved the loss; this woman's influence on Pablo Picasso's work was undoubtedly enormous.
Olga Khokhlova
In 1915, Pablo Picasso arrived in Rome to cope with the loss of his beloved and create the stage design for Diaghilev's ballet "Parade." There, he met the ballerina Olga Khokhlova, originally from the city of Nizhyn (present-day Ukraine).
The young woman was beautiful and elegant. The artist accompanied the ballet company to be close to his beloved and later took her to Spain to introduce her to his parents. The parents' doubts about their choice of son provoked a negative reaction, and in 1918, Picasso married Olga, signing a marriage contract.
At that time, Picasso began painting in a classical style; dancers with the profile of his beloved wife, the sea, and bathing women appeared in his paintings.
However, the couple's relationship could not be considered ideal: the reasonable and serene Olga could not stand her husband's stormy temperament, trying to master his nature and turn him into an exemplary family man. Of course, she failed, and conflicts arose in the family.
Not even the birth of their son Paulo in 1921 saved the relationship. Olga completely immersed herself in motherhood, distancing herself from her husband. The birth of their son also influenced the artist's work: his painting style softened even further; he liked to depict Olga in the role of mother. Their young son became the model for his father's paintings.
However, after leaving the theater, the revolution in Russia, and breaking ties with her mother and family, Olga gradually became a housewife, while Pablo remained an energetic, successful, and "bohemian" artist.
Discord began in the family: Olga didn't understand Cubism and demanded that Pablo paint salon paintings; she longed for wealth and well-being.
The cooling of the relationship in 1927 caused an irreparable rift, and by 1935 the couple had separated completely.
Olga spent the rest of her life alone, suffering from depression, and until her death in 1955, she never gave Picasso permission for a divorce..
Marie-Thérèse Walter
In 1927, during a period of cooling off in his relationship with his wife, Picasso met Marie-Thérèse Walter. She was only 17 years old, and Picasso was having a secret relationship with the younger woman.
Soft lines began to predominate in Picasso's paintings, whose softness recalled the rounded features of Marie-Thérèse, still a youth.
The most famous painting of the "Marie-Thérèse period," "Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust," went down in modern history as the first canvas sold at auction for over $100 million..
The young woman had a calm and cheerful nature and forgave him for his constant affairs.
In 1935, Marie-Thérèse and Pablo gave birth to a daughter, Maya, which marked the end of Picasso's family life. Olga and her son left her husband, breaking off all contact with him.
The romance with Marie-Thérèse also didn't last long, but Picasso maintained a relationship with her and supported her financially.
Maria-Thérèse herself waited her entire life for him to come to his senses and marry her, and four years after the artist's death, she hanged herself in her garage.
Dora Maar
In 1936, Picasso met Dora Maar (Henrietta Theodora Markovitch), a representative of Parisian high society, in a Parisian café.
She was a photographer, artist, and surrealist poet.
A brilliant and extraordinary person, with an unbalanced personality, she was incorporated into his work as a "woman in tears."
A characteristic feature of Dora's portraits are her large, deep-set eyes, tearful or thoughtful, filled with anxiety or sadness.
Picasso also liked to highlight her defined, oval face, her soft cheekbones, and her slender fingers with sharp, red nails that resembled drops of blood.
In 1937, after the bombing of Guernica, Picasso created his masterpiece, the entire process of which Dora captured on photos. She also made many of his photographic portraits. Under her influence, Picasso created experimental works that combined photography with printmaking and painting.
During the occupation of Paris, Picasso remained in the city, and Dora was by his side; despite her supposed Jewish origins and left-wing political views, Picasso's reputation protected them both.
In 1943, Picasso met Françoise Gilot, an aspiring artist 40 years his junior. He began to show clear signs of interest in her.
Dora was desperately jealous, Pablo tested Dora's strength - he moved her to an apartment nearby.
The unfortunate woman waited for a phone call all day long, sometimes Picasso invited her to the studio to create the next picture.
Over the years, Dora's instability became more and more and in 1945, after a severe mental crisis, she ended up in a psychiatric hospital where they used the then fashionable treatment of electricity.
Picasso paid for all the treatment, after she left the hospital, they will not restore their relationship.
Towards the end of her life, Dora Maar returned to photography, painted pictures and even exhibited in Paris and Valencia just two years before her death in 1997 at the age of 89..
Françoise Gilot
Françoise Gilot and Pablo Picasso met in 1943 at the Parisian restaurant "Catalan." At the time, she was 21, and he was 40 years older.
The young woman was a budding artist, and meeting the great artist naturally attracted her.
She posed for him and studied painting, and six months later, their relationship blossomed into a romance. To capture the image of the rebellious lover, Picasso turned to new techniques, mastering lithography and etching.
With the appearance of Françoise in Picasso's life, lyricism returned to his paintings. "La Femme Flor," painted in 1946, is an ode to femininity and tenderness. Life and color return to his work..
This extraordinary woman managed to fill Picasso with strength without wasting her own. She bore him two children and proved that a family idyll is not a utopia, but a reality for free and loving people. Françoise and Pablo's children were given the surname Picasso and, after the artist's death, became owners of part of his fortune.
She herself ended her relationship with Picasso upon learning of his infidelity. Françoise Gilot later wrote a book about her ten-year romance with the great artist, "My Life with Picasso," which later served as inspiration for the film "Vivre la vie à la vie à Picasso."
Françoise's life did not end after her separation from Picasso. She managed to step out of his shadow, began an independent life in the art world, made new friends, and became a famous artist..
Jacqueline Roque
The acquaintance with Jacqueline Roque took place in 1953, almost immediately after Françoise's departure, in the ceramics workshops, which Picasso had become interested in in his last years.
At the time of their meeting, she was 28 and he was 71. Picasso found in Jacqueline a woman capable of total self-sacrifice, which made him the meaning of her life. Jacqueline was a very calm, reasonable, and introverted woman, with failed relationships behind her and raising a young daughter.
After the death of his first wife in 1961, Pablo Picasso, aged 79, married Jacqueline Roque, who was then 34..
For 17 of the 20 years he lived with Jacqueline, he painted no other woman except her.
It was to her, his last lover, that Picasso dedicated the largest number of his paintings.. These paintings are interesting because they were painted using different techniques, each one a unique masterpiece in which Picasso's genius can be perceived.
After Pablo Picasso's death, Jacqueline Roque took on the mission of managing the great artist's impressive legacy. Thanks to her, several museums enriched their collections with priceless masterpieces. But, unable to find the strength to live without her idol, in 1986, 13 years after Pablo's death, Jacqueline Roque committed suicide..