*Henri Matisse - Seated Girl, Persian dress 1942*
*(Photo from NGA visit 2020)*

I often wonder was it the words of Francoise Gilot that caused the art world to take notice? Her book Life with Picasso that she co-wrote with Carlton Lake weaves a rich and layered narrative of their life together. The film Surviving Picasso was based on the book and is a wonderful film if you love an art kind of film or Picasso’s work and are interested in not only his life but the women and artists he kept in his life.

*Francoise Gilot (26/11/1921)*
*Gilot was 21 when she met Pablo Picasso…*

I think about Dora Maar and Francoise Gilot and wonder about their own art, how they managed to create and persevere when the aura of Picasso was constantly bumping up against their own inner worlds. Obviously attracted to the artist and the man behind the art I am always curious. Reading her book Life with Picasso (now on Audible) I am amazed how she recalls so many events and conversations, the places, the days in Paris or the South of France make for an evocative read. It is said that after the book was published Picasso did not see his children, Paloma nor Claude for some time… (Book: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: A Memoir of Picasso, Provence and Douglas Cooper by John Richardson)

*Antibes, Old Town*
*Provence - Alpes - Cote d’Azur, France*

In 2019 I went to Europe twice, truly extraordinary to me at the time never mind now that we cannot even leave the country for some time. I am in Australia, things are not that simple.

After our adventures in Italy we caught the train from Genoa to Ventimiglia crossing the French boarder and onto Antibes on the Cote D’Azur. The Mediterranean glistened on the coastline as we traveled south until the train stopped at Antibes, a stunning ochre coloured railway station. From there we wandered exited and walked to find our accommodation in the older part of town on Rue Vauban.

The details of the Musee Picasso, such a beautiful landmark on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea…Towers, fortifications, the history is vast and layered when it comes to the Grimaldi Dynasty that once built this noble building stone by stone…

Antibes was on my radar simply because I knew the Musee Picasso was located on the seaside in this historic centre. In a previous incarnation the Musee Picasso was built buy the Grimaldi family formally known as Chateau Grimaldi. Later it became the Grimaldi Museum and a little later Picasso used at his studio for a period of time each year. I guess it would have been nice to escape Paris in the middle of a long drawn out winter......

*Outside in the courtyard area of the Musee, amongst Picasso’s sculptures and local artefacts.*
*This is a fascinating look at a culture that has existed for many centuries since its earlier Greek settlement Antipolis and remnants of Etruscan heritage….*

Staying in Antibes was a dream I must admit. Wonderful views to the sea, quintessential French cafes and brasseries, beautiful streets, fortified walls, historic remains and the colour of the Mediterranean sparkling in the background. On the second day I took two of my girls to the Musee to see for myself. Of course it did not disappoint, there are three or four levels of art beginning at the bottom with Nicolas De Stael who lived and worked in the Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur region.

*The Mediterranean garden on view near the waterfront, I love the colours of the houses too…*

Picasso’s work has intrigued me for the past five years, ever since (as crazy as this sounds) I named my dog after him. A year later I learnt they had the same birth date, a bizarre co-incidence. My cat is Matisse and he had been rescued many years earlier so to name our dog, friend and rival ‘Picasso” made perfect sense in my mind. I had always told the girls if we ever got a dog, and they had been begging for a time the only name would be Picasso, no one questioned this and I got my way.

After walking all over Paris and then landing here in the late afternoon quite by accident I felt a little stunned to land out the front of Picasso’s home on Rue des Grands Augustins, an exceptional moment of travellers synchronicity or something like that….humble and happy, and perhaps a little worn out!!
*Mum and I slowly wandered over to the Latin Quarter for a bargain three course meal and glass of wine…*

And so when I knew we were going to France I was quite excited and planned accordingly. Not long after I returned I boarded another plane from Sydney for London and went to Paris with my Mum, in the short period between the Notre Dame Cathedral had caught on fire. It was May by this time and the weather was perfect. Paris was the same as the trip before with the family and it was lovely to actually know what I was doing this time. I told my Mum I had to go to Picasso Musee in Paris this time, that was a must, but first I had this gorgeous moment when we were wandering back from a long day of site seeing along the Seine, just meandering totally exhausted but happy when I realised we were right next to Saint Germain des Pres in the 6th Arrondissement.

*There is nothing like Paris, so beautiful*

For some reason we turned right and I wandered up this extremely quite street I had this feeling of why is it absolutely empty and then I saw that it was Picasso’s house on Rue des Grands Augustins. I could not believe my eyes. I knew the house from the movie ‘Surviving Picasso’ and I recognised it immediately. This was the landmark place he had painted his masterpiece Guernica in the year of 1937.

This strange and beautiful stillness came over me. I knew I was meant to be there. Mum and I continued up toward Rue St Andre des Arts enchanted by the French architecture and the shops until we walked back towards our hotel for the night.

After walking all over Paris and then landing here quite by accident I felt a little stunned to land out the front of Picasso’s home on Rue des Grands Augustins, an exceptional moment of travellers synchronicity or something like that….I then fell in love with Saint Germain des Pres, next time I stay in the heart of the Arrondissement….

Before I left I had a day to myself and explored Paris on my own terms, visiting the Musee Picasso, Brasserie Lipp, Gertrude Stein’s house and more.... A day to let my inner artist follow the call of Paris. I will create a podcast on this day one day soon….Stay Tuned for that, I just have so many I need to make already!!

*Inside Musee Picasso, Paris…in the Marais District*
*Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)*

*Calder - Picasso Exhibit 2019*
*Alexander Calder (1898-1976)*

*Pablo Picasso - Woman from Arles (Lee MIller) 1937*
*Photo taken in:*
*National Gallery Australia Exhibit*
*2019-2020*

Lo and behold a few months later at home in Bungendore, a thirty minute drive to the National Gallery of Australia I discover that the summer exhibition, the one I always look forward to regardless of who it is was celebrating ‘Matisse and Picasso’. So then for the third time in 2019 I was able to see the masterpieces and work of my favourite artists, I seriously could not believe my luck. I went twice, once with my girls on my birthday; I love that they will join me that day for a cultural experience and second time by myself and had a delightful day in the gallery once again.

*The simplicity of Matisse’s cutouts, honestly he created these in his 80s. I think that is kind of brilliant…*

And so I contemplate the journey, what it means, what it offers. I see the possibilities that time shares. I wonder about their lives and my own. I see there is a space in between I can navigate. Art will always out last the human experience. I like what Anne M. Wagner suggests, “We all need our fictions, they have their uses”.............

Quote Reference:

Significant Others: Creativity and Intimate Partnership.........

Chapter 13: Fictions: Krasner’s Presence: Pollocks Absence

Book to take note of if interested in this fascinating world:

Finding Dora Maar: An Artist, An Address Book, A Life by Bridgette Benkemoun

Fact and Fiction

Episodes About Donate

Fact and Fiction

The Eleventh Muse

Table For One

Episodes About Donate