Guest post by Renáta Ramocsai, art historian
In this series of posts, we take you on a tour of the most critical places in Picasso's life, starting with the famous Parisian studios. We will then visit Gisors and the history of the Boisgeloup chateau. We will also visit sunny Antibes, Vallauris, and Dora Maar's chateau in Ménerbes.
We will finish with Picasso's villas, including a visit to Vauvenargues, where the painter spent the last years of his life. But what better place to start your exploration than the iconic Ravignan street!
"This is where it all began", Picasso said with emotion when he visited 13 rue Ravignan, where he lived between 1904 and 1909, with Françoise Gilot in the autumn of 1944. It was in this building that Cubism was born, and this curious building was home to many avant-garde painters and poets in the early 20th century. Bohemian stories, such as Henry Rousseau's scandalous banquet, are associated with the place. Still, the prank committed by Roland Dorgelès in 1910 is a faithful expression of the "fun" of the time and of Montmartre. The story is linked to the tavern Lapin Agile and its famous barman, Lolo, his donkey. Dorgelès, a journalist who did not appreciate modern trends, painted Lolo's tail in different colours.
And then placed a canvas behind the donkey. In the presence of a photographer, Lolo completed his work, or rather, he coloured the canvas back and forth with his tail wagging at will. Dorgelès sent it to the Salon des Independents under the pseudonym Rafaelo Boronali. And the success did not fail! Some critics praised the novelty of the painting, sparking an astonishing outcry among painters, with Picasso unable to forgive the joke for decades.
Construction of the Bateau-Lavoir (nicknamed the boat laundry) began in the 1860s on the summer restaurant Le Poirier sans pareil site. In 1899, it was extended to a single-storey building on the Rue Ravignan and a three-storey building on the Rue Garreau. It took on a very bizarre appearance. In the words of Françoise Gilot, 'this building looks as if it will collapse in a matter of minutes'. Its rear façade was entirely made of wood and windows, some 15 metres high. The three floors were connected by an internal staircase, and there was no electricity or water. The tiny apartments were available for a minimum rent to the artists, who lived in great poverty. A single shade chair served the needs of the 30-40 people who lived there.
The exterior of 13 Ravignan Street faithfully reflected its internal vicissitudes. According to Gertrude Stein's book (Alice B. Toklas's autobiography), we can imagine Picasso's tiny studio "with a couch in one corner, a tiny stove in the other, used for cooking and heating, a few chairs, and the large broken one on which Gertrude Stein sat when she was painting, there was the smell of dog and paint, and there was a large dog that Picasso moved from one place to another as if the dog were a huge piece of furniture. He asked us to take a seat, but because there was something on every chair, we just stood and stood until we left... There was a huge picture leaning against the wall, a strange picture of a group painted in light and dark colours, that's all I can say about it, a huge group, and also a sort of reddish brown, angular and framed picture of three women, both quite startling." Picasso began painting his portrait of Gertrude Stein in December 1905, spending some 90 days sitting as a model for the American writer. Yet, the painter wanted to be more satisfied with it, feeling the image needed to adequately express the character of Stein, a patron of the arts. A few months later, on his return from Spain, Picasso repainted the realistic picture from memory. With this portrait, he breaks with the 'pink' era. And the 'quite shocking' image could not be more different, The Mademoiselles of Avignon, which Picasso began in 1906 and completed in 1907, and whose significance is to be considered.
Stay tuned as we explore Picasso's life and the legendary 1920s together!