Posted by Sue Roe on April 16th, 2025

Hidden Portraits is the first book in English to tell the story of all six significant women in Picasso’s life. While we know a great deal about Picasso, we know relatively little about the women who fell in love with him. (Dora Maar, whose work was exhibited in 2019–20 at the Tate Modern, London, and in Paris and Los Angeles, is the exception.) When most of us think of Picasso, we can easily conjure up one image or another: the handsome young man in the streets of Montmartre posing by that iconic lamp post; the stocky figure in a Breton striped T-shirt (in one jokey photograph with croissants for fingers); the sunburned man in shorts on the Riviera, walking behind a beautiful woman and shading her with a huge beach umbrella. Or later in life, posing happily with his second wife for the paparazzi, celebrating an opening or an award. In his studio, surrounded by canvases and clutter, he is painting a vast canvas, up all night, working strenuously on a new idea. We can always immediately call him to mind, the photogenic genius, the tireless innovator, the most successful artist of the twentieth century. But what/who do we think of, when we think about them? While the artist has been blessed with some masterly biographies, in the accounts of his life the women are invariably removed from centre-stage.

Fernande, Olga, Marie-Thérèse, Dora, Françoise and Jacqueline. These six remarkable women were all vivacious, stylish and surprising. They were all strong women who made their mark on Picasso’s life. Yet, with the exception of Dora, they have usually been viewed in biographies of Picasso as adjuncts to the artist’s story, and, when referred to at all, dismissed as his supporters, companions and muses. The facts of their lives have gradually emerged, piecemeal, particularly during the past two decades. Fernande Olivier and Françoise Gilot published their own memoirs – both invaluable source material (as has been the work of others published later, whose books and articles I cite). But we still have only piecemeal parts of the story. There is no bigger picture. The stories of the women who played such vital parts in Picasso’s life and work – their personalities, their backgrounds – have largely been passed over. Their formative years have barely received a mention, let alone sustained attention. For years, they came down to us almost as caricatures. Fernande was flighty; Marie-Thérèse was so young when Picasso met her that she seems forever young, and voluptuous, passive, virtually without personality. Olga, because she (understandably) wanted to hang on to her husband rather than lose him to another woman, was a harridan, on virtually no evidence except that the theme of metamorphosis Picasso was exploring in his work at the time of their separation included screaming female forms – which had other sources. Though Olga Picasso (née Khokhlova) was a member of Diaghilev’s renowned dance troupe the Ballets Russes, almost no attention has been paid to the years she spent as a dancer before marrying Picasso in 1918. Françoise Gilot was a successful painter, exhibiting in France, Britain and the United States. Who knew?

As is well known, during his long life, Picasso knew many women – some more intimately than others. Hidden Portraits is about the six individual women whose lives were intertwined with his, with whom he shared studios, apartments, houses, holidays and family life. All six inspired and were inspired by him. All six fell in love with him. They all willingly sat for him, and admired his work. Their relationships with Picasso transformed their lives, and they enhanced and underpinned his.

Connected most obviously by Picasso, what else, if anything, did these very different women have in common? All were stylish, good-looking and enjoyed fashionable clothes. All were willing models. They all combined the sensitivity and loyalty expected of wives in their day with unorthodox interests and activities. All were outstandingly unusual personalities, while all, at the same time, were deeply engaged in the business of supporting Picasso – in that respect, they were women of their time. For all six women, the management of their personal and social lives required integrity and ingenuity. Each of them, on meeting Picasso, was prepared for – or indeed, already half-seeking – an opportunity to live an extraordinary, unconventional life. All were adaptable, tenacious, courageous, and showed fortitude in adversity. Picasso was indisputably attractive. By all accounts, even standing stock-still and silent, he radiated charisma. All six women willingly succumbed to his magnetism. As has been well documented in recent years, all also found themselves tested by the artist’s subterfuges and betrayals.

Hidden Portraits: The untold stories of six women who loved Picasso by Sue Roe is published by Faber (£25.00 hardback).