The Politics Show7 Apr 2025

The untold story of Picasso's muses

The women who loved Picasso shaped his art in surprising ways.

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"We look at paintings to imagine other worlds, other times. They are doors into an alternative, creative way of life."

So writes Sue Roe in her latest book, Hidden Portraits: the Untold Story of Six Women Who loved Picasso.

And if there was ever an artist who opened the door to an alternative view of the world, surely Picasso qualifies: unorthodox, exhilarating, and experimental, his art broke new ground and made him the most successful artist of the 20th century.

But as is so often the case, his work was underpinned by a series of women - remarkable women - whom Picasso loved, and seemingly attempted to control.

Sue Roe's book tells their stories in turn, unveiling their extraordinary lives, exploring the impact they had on the artist and he on them.

In doing so it reveals, without moralising, some patterns of behaviour by Picasso which one might conclude were, at best, controlling and manipulative.

This opens up the fashionable question in 2025: can we appreciate the art while recognising that the artist could be a very unpleasant human being.

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Hidden Portraits: the Untold Story of Six Women who Loved Picasso

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Picasso's mistreated muses - book review by Sue Prideaux

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