© Sucesión Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023
Françoise Gilot was born in France in 1921 and continues to live her life between New York and Paris, working and exhibiting her work internationally. She is an artist and art critic who, at the age of 101, is a major reference point on the current art scene.
She was in a relationship with Pablo Picasso for ten long years, a relationship that she decided to end. The two met in a restaurant in Paris in 1943, when Pablo Picasso approached Gilot with a bowl of cherries and both introduced themselves as artists. From then on, the relationship began, which, as Gilot describes in his book Life with Picasso, was physical and intellectual, but not sentimental.
This relationship had a great influence on both of them. Gilot took inspiration from the artist, although she soon discovered her own style within Cubism. During these years she was working on her work within Picasso's circle, and was in contact with artists such as Matisse who also influenced her work and artistic career. According to some historians, when Gilot ended the relationship, Picasso was furious and boycotted her artistic career.
But to speak of Gilot only as one of the women who passed through Picasso's life is a mistake. She was an artist before she met Picasso. Her work abounds in portraits and self-portraits, landscapes and still lifes, all with a strong symbolic charge. Her style resembles Cubism, but she creates her own style within this trend with more organic and fluid silhouettes, moving away from sharp and marked edges.
Her style and technique have earned her international recognition, with works such as Paloma à la Guitare (1965) and Living Forest (1977) standing out. Her works are exhibited in museums such as the MoMA and the Met in New York and the Pompidou Centre in Paris.