Office romance splashing into marriage
Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova had an office crush. Future spouses met while working on the ballet Passage by Sergei Diaghilev. She created costumes and designed the stage and danced as part of the famous Russian Ballet. The artist was then 35 years old, the ballerina was ten.
The premiere of the ballet took place in Paris on May 18, 1917. After the dancers went on a tour of South America – all but Khokhlova. Picasso took his lover to his hometown to meet his family. A little more than a year later, the couple legalized their relationship and, at the insistence of the ballerina, got married in the main Orthodox church in the capital of France – the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
Madame Picasso came to her own wedding with a walking stick because she had recently injured her leg. She had to quit ballet soon after due to health problems and the prohibition of her new husband from continuing her career.
First years after marriage
The Picasso couple honeymooned in the resort town of Biarritz in the southwest of France. The newlyweds stayed in the villa of Chilean philanthropist Eugenia Errazuriz. Olga spent most of the honeymoon trip in bed because of her aching leg – the artist did not leave a single step to her, wasting her time painting the room in which his wife slept.
Returning to Paris, the couple settled in a two-story apartment: they lived on the first floor, and the second was taken as a workshop. It was here that the artist created works of art that he helped sell by his neighbors and well-known part-time art dealer Paul Rosenberg.
Thanks to the magnificence of Picasso, the couple was included in the highest circles. The couple led a secular life – they hosted the beau monde of the capital and visited the salons. Khokhlova did not return to her hometown after meeting her husband, and with the onset of the revolution, she completely lost contact with her family for a while.
Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the artist’s grandson, said, “It was only in 1919 that he received news from his home that his father, a general in the tsarist army, was missing, that his brothers were fighting in the Civil War, and that his mother and sister were starving.” in an interview. forbes.
Olga’s experiences were reflected in the artist’s canvases. He depicted the muse in thoughtful poses, with his head bowed and eyes downcast.
The birth of a son and problems in the family
On February 4, 1921, Picasso’s first child, Paulo, was born. The birth of a son temporarily reunited the spouses as their relationship began to have problems. Khokhlova then enjoyed the pleasures of motherhood, devoted herself to the newborn without a trace, her inspired husband painted idyllic portraits of his wife with a child.
However, the glimmer of hope for a happy family life disappeared as quickly as it seemed. The problems of relatives tormented Olga from the inside, she tried to improve their financial situation by sending money and work to her husband, but all in vain. In 1927, her mother Lydia died of a heart attack, never expecting to meet her daughter and granddaughter.
Betrayal
Disliking the tense atmosphere in the house, Picasso splashed negative emotions on the canvas – at some point realistic images of his wife were replaced by surreal ones. Parallel to this, a third surplus arose in their marriage.
The artist fell in love with a girl suitable for his daughter – 17-year-old model Marie-Therese Walter. A chance meeting turned into a passionate affair, which he initially managed to hide from his wife. At first, Walter invisibly accompanied the Picasso couple: the artist secretly from his wife took his mistress on a family vacation, and then placed her in a neighboring apartment in Paris.
On September 5, 1935, Maria Teresa gave birth to Pablo’s daughter, Maya. Learning about this, Khokhlova, along with her son, broke up with her husband and filed for divorce, which was never formalized.
“Pablo Picasso is Spanish, Olga Khokhlova is Russian. They got married in the Russian Orthodox Church in Paris. The official marriage was formalized at the Spanish consulate. Divorce was outlawed when Franco came to power after the military coup in 1936. It was unthinkable to go to Russia for a divorce, ”explained their grandson Bernard Ruiz-Picasso.
According to another rumor, the artist did not accept the dissolution of the marriage because he did not want to divide the property equally as a requirement of the agreement concluded between them.
tragic end
There is an opinion that Olga went crazy after breaking up with her husband. He pursued Picasso and his new passions, wrote letters begging his family to return, and sent them pictures together.
In the early 1950s, Olga was diagnosed with cancer. Treatment at the clinic in Cannes did not produce any results. On February 11, 1955, Madame Picasso died at the age of 63.
The artist did not attend the funeral. After outliving him for 18 years, he had another wife and two illegitimate children. Marie-Therese Walter committed suicide four years after Picasso’s death.