To argue that Picasso had an affectionate side towards his women is not irrational. Although he is remembered by most people as being an ultimate womanizer, a deeper look in his life with a particular mistress, Fernande Olivier, shows that perhaps his relationships were not that shallow. As Jean Crespelle writes in his book Picasso and his Women: “On a stormy evening in June 1904, there began a period of nine years of volcanic love which belong among the annals of legendary passions“(Crespelle 9). Indeed, Picasso and Fernande met for the first time outside the Bateau Lavoir and stayed together for nine years. While she and Picasso were together, Fernande spent most of her time with her lover, first in the Bateau Lavoir studio and later in a larger apartment in Boulevard de Clichy. During the summers they usually left the city together and no matter where they were, it was Fernande who kept him company, made him a home and protected his privacy. Crespelle writes in Picasso and his Women:
“At their very first meeting, Picasso fell passionately in love with the young woman, and Fernande accepted his adoration. Proud of having a real mistress, he tried to protect his love, both out of jealousy…” (Crespelle 52).
Indeed Picasso’s desire to protect his relationship was so great that he made her give up modeling but also locked her up in the house when he went out. Their relationship had many ups and downs but they usually found a way to keep their love alive. In 1909, Fernande fell ill and Picasso’s concern for his lover’s health was indicated in his paintings of that period by drawing melancholic portraits. Fernande wrote in a letter to he friend Gertrude Stein “I am so miserable, so lonely in spite of the fact that I do believe he really loves me…when I’m in pain he stops to take care of me“(Olivier 243).
Perhaps, as the above quote indicates, Picasso’s behavior towards Fernande was not always idyllic but it cannot be disputed that he cared about her and worried about her wellness, even after their break up. Therefore, this might tell us that he wasn’t as “mad and dangerous to know” as we might believe but actually had a softer streak that also led him to want to protect the women in his paintings.
Picture: Fernande Olivier, Pablo Picasso, and Ramón Rentevós.