Guest post by Renáta Ramocsai, art historian
In our previous post, we introduced you to the iconic Parisian artists' quarter, the Bateau Lavoir, and now we visit the next significant place in Picasso's life, 23 rue Boétie. Picasso is now far from the poverty of the 'ship's laundry', living in affluence and raising a family. The story could end here... but! How long can an artist who does not follow any rules in his art live a respectable bourgeois life?
Telling the truth, there were four more apartments between the Bateau Lavoir and 23 rue Boétie, a vital love affair in Picasso's life. Leaving Rue Ravignan with Fernande Olivier, they moved to 11 Boulevard de Clichy, but their relationship soon fell apart. At the end of 1911, Picasso fell in love with Eva Gouelle, with whom he moved first to Boulevard Raspail and then to 5, rue Schœlche. The next difficult years of Picasso's life were difficult. At the same time
The finest of his Cubist works (Ma Jolie, 1914), Eva, whom he feared and protected, fell ill and died in December 1915. Most of his friends were at the front, and he was left alone in his apartment on rue Schœlcher, which overlooked the Montparnasse cemetery. Although he hates moving, he finally decides to go where he has suffered so much and start a new life at 22, rue Victor-Hugo.
It is 1916, and Jean Cocteau finally convinces Picasso to design the set and costumes for the ballet production of Parade, which is about to be performed. The music is by Erik Satie, and the Russian Ballet performs the piece under the direction of Gagyilev. The company includes Olga Kokhlova, a Russian ballerina whom Picasso meets in Rome. Their meeting is not just a professional encounter but the start of a personal journey. They soon fell in love and were married in Paris on 12 July 1918. Before the wedding, Picasso introduces Olga to his family in Barcelona. Her mother's ominous advice falls on deaf ears; 'Poor girl, you don't know what you're getting into. If I were your girlfriend, I would advise you not to marry him under any circumstances. I don't think there is a woman who would be happy by my son's side. He is available only to himself.' (F. Gilot-C. Lake, My Life with Picasso, 1966)
The newlyweds are moving into a 6th-floor apartment at 23 rue Boétie, near the Champs-Elysées. According to Françoise Gilot, "the living rooms surrounded the entrance hall in a semicircle, from where a long corridor led to the utility rooms, the laundry room, the staff room...and finally the kitchen." Initially, Picasso did not rent a separate studio, settling into one of the spacious rooms, but this later led to many conflicts.
Olga, who, according to Picasso, "was not imbued with the sacred fire of art", has no interest in painting but is a painstaking stickler for order! Their ornately furnished salon is home to a lively social life, but Picasso, soon tyres of being an elite painter, reclaims his free, bohemian life and, not least... the mess.
Their marriage is unhappy. In 1927, for the first time in his life, Picasso did not paint for six months, which is evidence of a severe personal crisis. (Until his death, he will be neurotically jealous of any woman who comes near him.) Picasso is pulled out of his creative crisis by a new love, Marie-Thérèse Walter, who meets the then 17-year-old girl in 1927. In 1935, Olga learns of this secret affair and moves out of the Rue Boétie with her son Paulo, and in 1942, Picasso leaves the apartment that was the scene of his doomed marriage.
Their only child, Paulo, was born in 1921.
Stay tuned as we explore Picasso's life and his legacy together!
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