Life with Picasso [Paperback]

Francoise Gilot (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 1989

Francoise Gilot met Picasso during the German occupation of Paris, she was twenty-one, he was sixty-two.  For nearly a decade, Gilot shared her life with this giant of the art world, giving birth to two of his children, working as his model, and sharing his world.  This uniquely candid and vivid memoir takes readers behind the Piccasso legend to meet the man.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'[Gilot's] recall of his [Picasso's] discussions about art, details of private visits to friends such as Matisse, Braque and Giacometti, and her intimate understanding of his temperament, make this work unique' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'This memoir is both a vivd portrait of a monstrously difficult man and a brilliant depiction of a great artist at work' NEW YORK TIMES '... no-one in the Picasso entourage was so close to him... fascinating.' Tim Hilton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Francoise Gilot met Picasso during the German occupation of Paris, she was twenty-one, he was sixty-two. For nearly a decade, Gilot shared her life with this giant of the art world, giving birth to two of his children, working as his model, and sharing his world. This uniquely candid and vivid memoir takes readers behind the Piccasso legend to meet the man.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (May 26, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385261861
• ISBN-13: 978-0385261869
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #437,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intimate portrait of artistic genius as moral monster, January 9, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Life with Picasso (Paperback)

I read this book with a certain guilt as if prying into the intimate world of others I had no business looking into. But the fascination with the life of the great artist, and the whole subject of creativity kept me reading on even when I felt a bit disgusted in doing so.
I don't think it is my prudery that led to these feelings. The Picasso of this work is an egomaniac, a moral monster, who shows absolutely no consideration whatever for those closest to him. The people who have helped him in the past do not count for him. The people who are involved with him in the present are manipulated by him for his own purposes. He is tremendously ambitious, greedy financially, stingy, sexually driven and demanding without necessarily being interested in the feelings of the woman he is with . Gilot is no innocent, and her relation with Picasso comes not only one feels out of her own ambition as an artist but her desire to be next to the big- deal the big- name the great genius of art. It is instructive how she cans the two aunts who raise her when the great Pablo demands exclusive attention. This is not to deny her genuine love for him or his passion for her, though no doubt this was never particularly exclusive. Picasso was a great user, user of materials and situations for his art, and user of people for his life. His work has a cruelty his life shares. And it seems to me that that cruelty means his work in the deepest sense does not reach the highest level, the level where Rembrandt and Michangelo and Raphael are. And this because the great draughtsman is not a great reader of the human soul . He is rather a twenty- second technical man a supreme master of means who knows how to put the machine in himself to use to cut up and recombine the world for his purposes. Gilot goes too as do all the previous wives and mistresses, the agents and friends. And Pablo takes and takes to the end .
Gilot is a tough character and in a way her presentation of herself as one who stands up to him at points gives the work a certain dramatic power. But in the end the feeling is that the greatest art cannot come of or dwell in the kind of sordidness of spirit which Picasso so often displayed. And thus the reading of this work gave me the sense that generations hence though they may admire the work of Picasso will not be inspired by and love it as we do with the work of the very greatest artists.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you have interest in Picasso's techniques read this book, July 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Life with Picasso (Paperback)

Gilot's representation of her time with Picasso is obviously the product of in depth journals. The potrayal of his monologues and mannerisms are detailed to a very fine degree. Overlooked, by the majority of reviewers of this work, is her painstaking detail into his artistic process. The level of detail she provides regarding the techniques Picasso used eclipses any other Picasso biography. Gilot documented his work with oils, sculpture, etching and many other mediums. Always the focus of reviews are Picasso as the great abuser, the great manipulator. Focus always seems to placed on the physcological aspects of his art, his life and their relationship. Seldom is the emphasis placed on the technical nature of this work. It is a large portion on this book. It is what really makes it worth the read...

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great perspective, from a person who knew first hand., May 25, 2002

By 

Erik K (Albuquerque, NM.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life with Picasso (Paperback)

The best book on Picasso I have read. Francoise Gilot, wife to Picasso and a painter, writes possibly with better insight than Picasso himself could, and certainly any other "outside of the circle" biographer could, about Picasso's manner of painting, his personality and lifestyle, his motivations and a good part of his life. Excellent, excellent book.