Françoise Gilot, an acclaimed painter who produced art for more than a half-century, but was better known for her turbulent relationship with Pablo Picasso — and for leaving him — died Tuesday in New York City at 101 years old.
Gilot’s daughter, Aurelia Engel, told The Associated Press her mother died at Mount Sinai West Hospital after suffering both lung and heart problems.
“She was an extremely talented artist, and we will be working on her legacy and the incredible paintings and works she is leaving us with,” Engel said.
Artist Françoise Gilot poses with her work at a personal art exhibition in Milan, Dec. 21, 1965. (AP Photo, File)
Gilot met Picasso, who was 61 at the time, in 1943 when she was only 21. The pair had two children together, Claude and Paloma Picasso, before she shockingly left him in 1953.
“He never saw it coming,” Engel said. “She was there because she loved him and because she really believed in that incredible passion of art which they both shared. (But) she came as a free, though very, very young, but very independent person.”
“She was an extremely talented artist.”
Gilot at 94-years-old told the Guardian that she left Picasso “on my own will.”
“I’d been there of my own will, and I left of my own will,” she told the outlet. “That’s what I told him once, before I left. I said: ‘Watch out, because I came when I wanted to, but I will leave when I want.’ He said, ‘Nobody leaves a man like me.’ I said, ‘We’ll see.’”
Artist Françoise Gilot appears during an interview with Reginald Bosanquet in London on March 3, 1965, in connection with the publication of her book, “My Life With Picasso.” (AP Photo/Bob Dear)
Pablo Picasso poses for a picture in his Paris studio. (Bettmann / Contributor)
In 1964, Gilot published a tell-all book, titled “Life with Picasso,” detailing her tumultuous relationship with the famed artist. An angry Picasso sought unsuccessfully to ban its publication.
“He attacked her in court, and he lost three times,” Engel recalled. “After the third loss he called her and said congratulations. He fought it, but at the same time, I think he was proud to have been with a woman who had such guts like he had.”
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Her life with Picasso was also illustrated in the 1996 movie “Surviving Picasso.”
Gilot went on to remarry twice – first to artist Luc Simon and then to American virologist Dr. Jonas Salk, who is famed for his work with the polio vaccine. He died in 1995.
Dr. Jonas Salk, right, developer of the polio vaccine, and artist Francoise Gilot appear following their civil wedding at Paris Neuilly Town Hall on June 30, 1970. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)
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Gilot was born on Nov. 26, 1921, in Neuilly-sur-Seine in suburban Paris. She was an only child.
“She knew at the age of five that she wanted to be a painter,” Engel said.
However, her parents wanted her to study law. Gilot eventually began showing her work in 1943 – the same year she met Picasso, beginning their unforgettable romance.
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“I was 21, and I felt that painting was already my whole life,” Gilot wrote in “Life With Picasso.”
She added that when Picasso asked her and a friend what they did, the friend said they were painters. Picasso is said to have responded with: “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day. Girls who look like that can’t be painters.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
