Who where Pablo Picasso’s children?
A REASONED PABLO PICASSO'S FAMILY TREE
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in 1881 in Malaga (Sout of Spain), but he spent most of his teenage years in Barcelona. There he received a formal artistic education in the most prestigious local art school, and he also met the bohemian modernist artists that showed him there were other ways to produce art. He then moved to France, where he’ll evolve through his famous Blue and Pink periods, until he became the starter of the Cubist style completely transforming the Art History.
But along this, he met many women who inspired him and gave everything to the artist. The women of Picasso were key in his art, that often reflects his love life. And he had kids with some of them, too. Although often Picasso’s children remained shadowed by their father, and people has been more interested in their inheritance fights than them as a family. Let’s discover together the intricate Picasso family tree.
The Picasso Family where Picasso was born
1
Jose Ruiz y Blasco (1838-1913) - Picasso's father
Jose Ruiz was the father of Pablo Picasso and the head of Picasso's family. He was an academical artist specialized in still natures, pigeons and landscape. He was an art teacher first in his hometown Malaga, then for a brief period in La Coruña (North of Spain), then finally in the prestigious La Llotja of Barcelona. It was him who gave Picasso his artistical base, encouraging him to paint from a young age, up to the point that at age 13 Picasso was already a master of portrait. And thanks to him Picasso was admitted in La Llotja despite being underage.
2
Maria Picasso y Lopez (1855-1938) - Picasso's mother
She came from an Italian family that had emigrated to Spain two generations earlier. Her father died of yellow fevers, and she grew up with her three sisters and mother until she married Jose Ruiz, who was 17 years older. Maria always believed in Picasso’s talent, and lovingly kept the drawings, sketches and paintings the kid produced while still in the household. Her collection became the base of the Picasso Museum of Barcelona.
3
Conchita and Lola - Picasso's sisters
Picasso’s other sister was Lola (Maria de los Dolores). She was 3 years younger than Pablo, and she was a frequent model of the artist during his early years. She married a neuropsychiatrist, Juan Bautista Vilato Gomez, and they had 6 kids. Two of them, Jose and Javier, became painters. After 1926 her mother Maria moved in with them. She passed away in 1958.
All the Pablo Picasso kids, legitimate and illegitime
1
Paulo Picasso (1921-1975), Picasso's only legitimate child
Already an adult, Paulo worked as a private driver for his father, who constantly insulted him and paid him very poorly, leading poor Paulo to alcoholism. Paulo married Emilienne Lotte, who gave him two children: Pablito Picasso (1949-1973) and Marina Picasso (born 1950). After months after Marina was born, Paulo quitted Emilienne to marry Christine Paulpin, with whom he had one sone, Bernard Picasso (1959). Paulo died of liver cancer two years after Pablito’s terrible suicide by drinking bleach.
2
Maya Widmaier-Picasso (1935-2022)
When Picasso started seeing Dora Maar in 1935, Marie Thérèse and Maya moved to Versailles but Picasso continued to visit them on the weekends. Maya continued to have a relationship with his dad even when he had children with his next lover, François Gilot. She used to visit them in Antibes and even taught Picasso how to swim.
Maya married Pierre Widmaier (that she divorced later on) and they had three children: Olivier, Richard and Diana. Maya’s carreer was devoted to studying and preserving Pablo Picasso’s art, a path that was been followed by her daughter Diana, who is an art historian specialized in Picasso, too. Maya’s son Olivier has written a biography of Picasso titled “Picasso: the real family story”.
3
Claude Picasso (1947-2023)
By 1953, the relationship between Picasso and Gilot wasn’t working anymore, as Picasso was cheating on her with Geneviève Laporte, so they split up and Gilot took her children with her. Two years later Gilot married Luc Simon, with whom she had another child, Aurelia. In 1958 Claude and his sister Paloma visited Picasso in Cannes, and two years later François Gilot legally recognized the last name Picasso for her children and broke up with Simon . However, the relationship with his father cooled when Françoise Gilot published her “Life with Picasso” and the artist felt outraged about it.
Claude worked as an assistant of the famous photographer Richard Avedon. In 1995 he founded the Picasso Administration to control copyrights, authenticity certificates and other legal matters.
5
Paloma Picasso (Born 1949)
She was always interested in design, collaborating with the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and the Greek jewelry Zolotas. But she lost her will to create after her father passed away. That year se played a role in the erotic film Immoral Tales, but she didn’t act anymore despite the good critics.
In 1978 she married the Argentinian playwright and director Rafael Lopez-Sanchez (born Lopez-Cambil), and two years later she started working for Tiffany & Co. In 1984 she launched her own line of perfume and skin cosmetics with L’Oreal, and in 1987 she created her iconic line of lipstick Mon Rouge also with L’Oreal. Unfortunately Mon Rouge was discontinued after in 1999 Paloma divorced her husband, who claimed a millionaire compensation for having helped her to build her brand.
She then married the osteopathy doctor Eric Thévenet, with whom he continues to live between Switzerland and Morocco. She’s continued to create accessories from sunglasses to sheets and towels, as well as home design items such as porcelain, cristal or silverwear. She hasn’t had any children.
Who are the current Picasso heirs?
So let’s get down to the facts! Picasso had left more than 45,000 pieces, 2 châteaux and three more villas, some $4.5 millions in cash and $1.3 millions in gold. Plus stocks and a personal art collection that included Cezannes, Matisses, Miros… The legal war had started. And the France disposed the auctioneer Maurice Rheims and his team to create a complete inventory… that took 6 years to complete (1974-1981).
In 1975 Paulo passed away, and his children Marina and Bernard took his place as legal heirs. And finally Maya, Paloma and Claude were given the status of legal heirs as well. Part of the agreement included the collaboration of the heirs to create the Picasso Musée of Paris. In 1986 Jacqueline Roque killed herself, unable to live without Pablo Picasso. Her daughter from a previous marriage Catherine (Cathy) Hutin-Blay inherited Jacqueline’s collection of Picasso works as well as the Chateau de Vauvenargues, where Jacqueline and Picasso are buried.
In 1996 a French court made Claude Picasso the legal manager of Picasso’s works and properties, creating the Picasso Administration to protect the heirs interests and control de artist’s rights, licenses and authenticity certificates, among other legal questions. That didn’t settle the issues, though, as the heirs haven’t always agreed on the decisions that are taken.
For instance, Marina felt outraged when in 1998 Citroen was allowed to use the name Picasso for a line of cars (it had been Maya’s son’s idea). Marina wasn’t alone to complain: the director of the Musée Picasso of Paris and the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (a close friend of Picasso) publicly expressed their opinions of how inappropriate it was.
Also, while originally Maya was trusted by auctioneers to authenticate Picasso’s works, Claude began to authenticate too. Then both signatures started to be required, but they’ll often have opposite opinions, what made the procedures very complex. Then in 2012 Claude, Paloma, Marina and Bertrand unilaterally decided that only Claude’s signature would be valid. Maya declared that she “nearly died” when she learnt about it from a friend. However, even if she wasn’t officially part of the authentication process, her opinions were still regularly consulted and taken into account even if she wasn’t in the best terms with Claude.
And more recently, in 2022 Marina Picasso and her son Florian have tried to sell a series of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) of a Picasso ceramic work, but they were stopped by the lawyers of the Picasso Administration. And just a few months before passing away, Claude Picasso transferred to his sister Paloma the society that controls the artists rights. If you want to learn more about the intricate legal battles of Picasso’s heirs, Vanity Fair has a very detailed report published in 2016.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about Pablo Picasso children!
Marta
Marta is the founder of ForeverBarcelona. She is a passionate tour guide that loves Barcelona and loves writing too. She is the main author of our Blog, and is committed to sharing her knowledge about Barcelona and her best tips with our readers.
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