Françoise Gilot
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Françoise Gilot (born 1921) is a French born painter and author, known for being a companion of Pablo Picasso between 1944 and 1953, who later married vaccine pioneer, American biologist Dr. Jonas Salk.
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[edit] Early life
Gilot was born on 26 November at Neuilly-sur-seine, France, to her father, a businessman and agronomist, and her mother, a watercolor artist. She studied English Literature at Cambridge University and the British Institute in Paris (now University of London Institute in Paris). [1] While training as 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.
[edit] Picasso
At 21, Gilot met Picasso (then 61) and would ultimately raise both their children: Claude and Paloma. 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.[2]
[edit] Later life
In 1969 Gilot was introduced to Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine pioneer[3], 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.[4] Gilot remained married to Dr. Salk until his death in 1995 and during her marriage she continued painting in New York, California, and Paris. At 87, Gilot's vibrant, colorful art continues to reflect her thoughts on nature, time, symbols and signs.
Gilot lives in New York City and Paris, working on behalf of the Salk Institute in California, and continues to exhibit her work internationally.[3]
[edit] Personal life
Gilot married Luc Simon in 1954 and the couple divorced in 1962. They had a daughter, Aurelia.
[edit] Books
Francoise 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.
[edit] External links
- Françoise Gilot Archives
- Françoise Gilot Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
[edit] References
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