Marie Françoise Salk

She is a French painter and bestselling author living in New York City and Paris. She is known for being the lover and artistic muse of Pablo Picasso from 1944 to 1953, and the mother of his children, Claude Picasso and Paloma Picasso. She later married the American vaccine pioneer, Jonas Salk.

Gilot was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Her father was a businessman and agronomist, and her mother was a watercolor artist. She studied English literature at Cambridge University and the British Institute in Paris (now University of London Institute in Paris). While training to be a lawyer, Gilot was known to skip morning law classes to feed her true passion: art. Despite her mother being an artist herself, the extent of the young woman's artistic pursuits inexplicably drove her away from immediate family to her grandmother's attic.

At 21, Gilot met Pablo Picasso, then 61. His mistress, Dora Maar, was devastated to learn that Picasso was replacing her with the much younger artist. Gilot would ultimately raise both of their children: Claude (born 1947) and Paloma (born 1949). The parents often captured their children's antics on canvas. Gilot maintained a relationship with the Spanish painter from 1944 until 1953. Eleven years after their separation Gilot wrote Life with Picasso, a book that sold over one million copies in dozens of languages despite an unsuccessful legal challenge from Picasso attempting to stop its publication.

Another legal success was that Gilot secured the Ruiz-Picasso name for her children, Claude and Paloma, by the end of the 1960s.

Gilot married Luc Simon in 1954 and the couple divorced in 1962. They had a daughter, Aurelia.

In 1969 Gilot was introduced to Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine pioneer, at the home of mutual friends in La Jolla, California. Their shared appreciation of architecture led to a brief courtship and they were married in 1970 in Paris.They remained married until Salk's death in 1995. During her marriage she continued painting in New York, La Jolla, and Paris.

Gilot lives in New York City and Paris, working on behalf of the Salk Institute in California, and continues to exhibit her work internationally.

Books:

Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, Life with Picasso, Random House, Trade Paperback, 352 pages. May 1989. ISBN 0-385-26186-1; first published in November, 1964.

F. Gilot, Le regard et son Masque (The Painter and the Mask), Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 1975 – focuses on her development as an artist.

Inspired artwork:

Seattle artist Pegeen Shean was inspired by a passage from the book Life with Picasso, written by Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, in which Picasso tells Françoise his choicest memories. While painting Guernica (painting), May/June 1937, Picasso is affectionately assisted by Dora Marr, when Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso's live-in girlfriend and mother of his child Maya, drops in. Angered by the scene Marie-Thérèse insists that Picasso choose between the women. He stops painting for a moment, and unable to come to a decision says, I like you both; you two fight it out.

Pegeen's painting Choicest Memories, 2003 appropriates Picasso's figures of the two women and the iconic horse from Guernica to depict the dramatic scene, as it might have looked to Picasso.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7oise_Gilot

Picasso and Gilot never married, but they did have two children together.

By the end of 1960, Gilot legally secures the Ruiz-Picasso name for her children, Claude and Paloma

She is a French painter and bestselling author living in New York City and Paris. She is known for being the lover and artistic muse of Pablo Picasso from 1944 to 1953, and the mother of his children, Claude Picasso and Paloma Picasso. She later married the American vaccine pioneer, Jonas Salk.

Gilot was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Her father was a businessman and agronomist, and her mother was a watercolor artist. She studied English literature at Cambridge University and the British Institute in Paris (now University of London Institute in Paris). While training to be a lawyer, Gilot was known to skip morning law classes to feed her true passion: art. Despite her mother being an artist herself, the extent of the young woman's artistic pursuits inexplicably drove her away from immediate family to her grandmother's attic.

At 21, Gilot met Pablo Picasso, then 61. His mistress, Dora Maar, was devastated to learn that Picasso was replacing her with the much younger artist. Gilot would ultimately raise both of their children: Claude (born 1947) and Paloma (born 1949). The parents often captured their children's antics on canvas. Gilot maintained a relationship with the Spanish painter from 1944 until 1953. Eleven years after their separation Gilot wrote Life with Picasso, a book that sold over one million copies in dozens of languages despite an unsuccessful legal challenge from Picasso attempting to stop its publication.

Another legal success was that Gilot secured the Ruiz-Picasso name for her children, Claude and Paloma, by the end of the 1960s.

Gilot married Luc Simon in 1954 and the couple divorced in 1962. They had a daughter, Aurelia.

In 1969 Gilot was introduced to Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine pioneer, at the home of mutual friends in La Jolla, California. Their shared appreciation of architecture led to a brief courtship and they were married in 1970 in Paris.They remained married until Salk's death in 1995. During her marriage she continued painting in New York, La Jolla, and Paris.

Gilot lives in New York City and Paris, working on behalf of the Salk Institute in California, and continues to exhibit her work internationally.

Books:

Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, Life with Picasso, Random House, Trade Paperback, 352 pages. May 1989. ISBN 0-385-26186-1; first published in November, 1964.

F. Gilot, Le regard et son Masque (The Painter and the Mask), Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 1975 – focuses on her development as an artist.

Inspired artwork:

Seattle artist Pegeen Shean was inspired by a passage from the book Life with Picasso, written by Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, in which Picasso tells Françoise his choicest memories. While painting Guernica (painting), May/June 1937, Picasso is affectionately assisted by Dora Marr, when Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso's live-in girlfriend and mother of his child Maya, drops in. Angered by the scene Marie-Thérèse insists that Picasso choose between the women. He stops painting for a moment, and unable to come to a decision says, I like you both; you two fight it out.

Pegeen's painting Choicest Memories, 2003 appropriates Picasso's figures of the two women and the iconic horse from Guernica to depict the dramatic scene, as it might have looked to Picasso.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7oise_Gilot

Picasso and Gilot never married, but they did have two children together.