“We have a look at work to think about different worlds, different instances. They’re doorways into an alternate, artistic lifestyle.”
So writes Sue Roe in her newest ebook, Hidden Portraits: the Untold Story of Six Girls Who cherished Picasso.
And if there was ever an artist who opened the door to an alternate view of the world, absolutely Picasso qualifies: unorthodox, exhilarating, and experimental, his artwork broke new floor and made him essentially the most profitable artist of the twentieth century.
However as is so typically the case, his work was underpinned by a collection of girls – exceptional girls – whom Picasso cherished, and seemingly tried to regulate.
Sue Roe’s ebook tells their tales in flip, unveiling their extraordinary lives, exploring the influence that they had on the artist and he on them.
[See more: Picasso’s mistreated muses]
In doing so it reveals, with out moralising, some patterns of behaviour by Picasso which one would possibly conclude had been, at finest, controlling and manipulative.
This opens up the trendy query in 2025: can we respect the artwork whereas recognising that the artist could possibly be a really disagreeable human being?
Hidden Portraits: the Untold Tales of Six Girls Who Beloved Picasso
Sue Roe
Faber & Faber, 304pp, £25
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