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SHE WAS PICASSO’S forgotten wife, written out of history as a “neurotic”, snobbish depressive who was a drag on the great artist.
But a new exhibition is shining a very different light on Olga Khokhlova, his first wife who Picasso refused to divorce because he did not want to split his artworks and his vast wealth with her.
Drawing on previously unseen letters, photographs and films from the Picasso family’s private archives, Olga emerges as a major influence on the greatest painter of the 20th century.
Picasso fell madly in love with the beautiful Russian ballerina in 1917 after seeing her dance in “Parade” by Sergei Diaghilev, Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau for which he had designed the set and the costumes.
The exhibition at the Picasso Museum in Paris – the first ever devoted to Olga – shows how she was his main model and muse throughout his classical period.
Musée national Picasso-Paris / Vimeo
First his view of her was carnal, but as time went by and his ardour cooled, he portrayed her as melancholic, often sitting or reading.
Later as their marriage soured in the 1920s and 1930s, Olga is shown as “deformed” and contorted by pain and regret.
‘Opens up his life’
By then Picasso was leading a double life having become infatuated with a buxom 17-year-old French girl, Marie-Therese Walter, who he picked up in the street.
In one telling photo taken by Picasso in his studio, the slim and elegant Olga is shot sitting on a chair behind which looms a nude of the voluptuous Marie-Therese who – unbeknown to Olga – had replaced her in his bed.
Olga’s grandson Bernard Ruiz-Picasso told AFP that the family’s letters and photos allow a “really fascinating study of the direct links between the artist, his work and what was influencing him at the time”.
Picasso’s friend and biographer, the British art historian Sir John Richardson – who described Olga as “rather neurotic” – has already called the trove “a revelation and absolutely astonishing”.
“It opens up his life,” he said.
Picasso has often been condemned as a macho misogynist, whose sex drive and selfishness left a trail of destruction behind him – with Marie-Therese, his second wife Jacqueline Roque, and a grandson all committing suicide.
But curator Emilia Philippot said the documents show a more nuanced view of his relationship with Olga, with one home movie showing her plucking daisy petals and mouthing the words: “He loves me, he loves me not.”
‘Very mysterious woman’
She is a very mysterious woman. In his portraits and photos of her she does not smile a lot… but when you see her in the films she is actually very joyous and girl-like. She’s a dancer and she is always dressing up and being playful with the dogs.
Ruiz-Picasso said it emerged from her letters that Olga had good reason to be sad and preoccupied.
Born in what is now Ukraine, her father – a colonel in the Russian imperial army – had disappeared in the chaos of the Bolshevik revolution.
While she and Picasso were climbing the social ladder in Paris, her family was losing everything.
Picasso idealised Olga on canvas as the model of perfect motherhood after the birth of their son Paulo in 1921, but soon the relationship began to go wrong.
“She was known for her fits of jealousy and obviously there were some real tensions within the relationship,” Philippot said.
“But I think Picasso had love and respect for her. He too was a prisoner of their situation, which he expressed in comparing himself to the Minotaur,” the imprisoned mythological half-man half-bull.
The couple separated in 1935, but still financially dependent on him, “Olga had real trouble accepting the separation”, Philippot added.
“She was very alone and she suffered a lot. After the war when Picasso settled in the south of France, Olga followed him, going from hotel to hotel, living out of her suitcase,” while Paulo became his father’s chauffeur.
She would send Picasso little cards with photographs of Paulo and the grandchildren as if they were still a family.
But Picasso “never replied to her letters” and wanted nothing of the reconciliation and conventional family life that Olga craved.
Dismissed as “mad” by many of Picasso’s friends, she died from cancer in the French Mediterranean resort of Cannes in 1955. Four years later Picasso married Roque, who he painted obsessively until his death in 1973.
The exhibition runs until 3 September.
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I’m sure the staff are “extremely disappointed” that they’ve had to go on strike at Christmas too. So before anyone starts union-bashing, I know from experience that no one enjoys being on strike without pay at any time of the year but it’s often a last resort. Hopefully it’s resolved swiftly.
@Pascal Coleman: Good luck to the staff. Don’t cross the picket people!
@Pascal Coleman: I thought I heard before that one of the reasons employees contribute a small portion of their pay to union membership is so that they union can subsidise the strikers when on strike and pay them something extent when they are on strike?
@Simon Carroll: Yes , as it should be. Unfortunately it is only pittance , also depends on how long strike lasts. If costumers do not cross the picket line , an Tesco profits suffer… They will not be long in resolving this dispute. Support the striking workers.. Do Not Pass The Picket.
I fully support the staff here, Tesco have a reputation for screwing their staff over and dishonorable work practices in general. Not to mention they don’t give a rats ass about their customers which is evident by the overall presentation of most stores, the general lack of staff in same and the over reliance on “self scan” checkouts wherin they take away a job and offer no cost saving whatsoever to the customer. I’ll continue to shop at lidl thank you where they at the very least pay the living wage.
@Frank Lee: per square ft in shops Tesco hire more staff, and as Tesco do not use central distribution to such a large degree so local supplies still have a chance in Tesco.
@Frank Lee: you complain about the lack of staff in Tesco but yet you shop somewhere that employs less! That’s a bit strange.
@Frank Lee: as someone who has worked for 15 years for that company in the past o don’t know where you getting your info from. Yes they have had falling out with pre 1996 staff over redundancy but trust me they are far from the worst!! We would often get the mandate magazine into each store and left in the canteen and it was always a certain Irish supermarket that was plastered throughout having wronged it’s staff or up in the wrc to the point were I was glad in never took a position there . I have also heard first hand accounts from various managers who worked with me who also worked with this company about the treatment of staff
@Frank Lee: and screwing their customers . Anyone who shops in Tesco and doesn’t focus their Monday on the price displayed as against the price on their bill needs to wake up.
@Terry Cahill: minds
@Frank Lee: Tesco staff have banded guaranteed hour contracts, Do Lidl? Tesco pay premium time for Sunday and early morning & double time for Sundays in December Do Lidl? Tesco have a save as you earn scheme for staff and a great pension, do Lidl? Tesco have subsidised staff food offers, do Lidl? Tesco give staff a 10% discount card, Do Lidl? Tesco allow staff to use money off vouchers as well as the discount card, do Lidl?…
@Fergus Sheahan: They got rid of the drivers, they are kings of the zero contrat and all of it and they make millions. Look at all the Christmas stuff. British Cheeses and all the rest of it.
@Trev: Is that why the staff in my local tesco buy their lunch at the counter or used to buy it in the local spar but it closed. How long are you a management lackey
@Gary Kearney: they have banded contracts not zero contracts! BANDED contracts are what unions would like EVERY other retailer in Ireland to have.. TESCO have them. They do sell some British CHEESE that’s true but also they sell cheese from Italy, Spain, France, IRELAND!! & other places too, You do realise Irish companies sell their products outside Ireland also don’t you?
@Gary Kearney: christ Gary you talk some rubbish. There are literally no zero hour contracts in Tesco. Stop talking crap. Yes, staff may be buying lunch from the counter, but they get it at a discounted rate. Come back when you know what your talking about.
I fully support the staff also. Tesco have no response to the unions and try to influence the new /summer or Christmas staff not to join the union. They still want rid of pre 96 staff that is left.sorry Tesco but you operate in ireland so you need to abide by the laws of ireland not UK.
@Eddie Mc Keown: The only difference for new staff is that they are not automatically entered into the union. It’s up to them to make the decision of whether they wish to join or not.
@Skimothy: how are you now,after your frontal lobotomy?
Let’s not start “Union bashing” or ” Tesco” bashing. I’ve been worker in situations where the union has helped genuine workers with grievances and I’ve been working in situations were lazy workers have hidd behind a union. I don’t know what the situation is with this particular case but all I do know is when Tesco opened in my local area they employed alot of local people and most of them still seem to be working there and semm happy enough. By the way I’m no Tesco fan. I shop in Tesco, Lidl, Aldi & Supervalue- wherever I can get the best prices. You have a choice on where you shop and you have a choice on where you work. Good luck to the workers if these are genuine grievances but let’s have a balanced approach when commenting…
I most certainly will not be shopping in Tesco when they have total disregard for the wishes of the staff and they wish to be represented by Mandate Union . We need to support the Tesco staff
Boycott.Boycott ..
@Margaret ODwyer: ive read the article and the various comments but I am none the wiser on what the actual dispute or grievance is about – i get all the Tesco Bashing / Union bashing whingers – but what EXACTLY is the issue and grievance that is causing them to take the most extreme action a union can take in striking ? anyone ?
Stick to Dunnes and Supervlau
Anyone doubting the strikers here should have a read of Joanna Blythmans book on the practices of tesco and their competitors…. they can well afford to pay staff a decent wage
**wont
***wont
Ahh Bless
I’m sure the workers are “disappointed that TESCO engage with the union
I refuse to use the the scan your own lark nor the self service unless in dire emergency. Why as they take jobs. Next they will want us to stack the shelves and unload the trucks too.
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