Not so long ago, on June 17 of this year, the ballerina from Diaghilev’s troupe Olga Khokhlova, who went down in history under the name Picasso, turned 125 years old. For almost a decade, she was Pablo Picasso's Russian Muse, a model for his paintings, wife and mother of his son.
Picasso met Olga Khokhlova when Diaghilev’s ballet “Russian Seasons in Paris” toured with great triumph in Paris.
Despite the free European morals and temptations that surrounded the girl, Olga, an aristocrat by birth and apparently in spirit, lived in her own own world. Most likely, it is precisely this dissimilarity from others that a good education and discipline were able to produce very strong impression on Pablo Picasso.
It was also important that Olga was Russian. In those years, Picasso, a great revolutionary in art, was extremely interested in everything Russian. Having met Khokhlova, Picasso often asked her to speak Russian. He enjoyed the sound itself foreign speech. He even planned to learn the language of this mysterious country for him; he closely followed the developments in Russia, the February Revolution. Apparently, all this gave the ballerina a special romantic-revolutionary flair in his eyes.
Picasso soon became interested in Olga, with all his characteristic temperament. “Be careful,” Diaghilev warned him with a grin, “you have to marry Russian girls.” “You’re kidding,” answered the artist, who claimed that he remains the master in any situation.
1920 Danseuse assise (Olga Picasso)
Outwardly, Khokhlova and Picasso were very different from each other. He's stocky. She is slender, tall, graceful. But, of course, the main differences were in their views on life. Before meeting Olga, the 36-year-old artist prioritized pleasure and knew a huge number of women. The ballerina, at 27 years old, was a virgin and clearly did not plan to become another easy prey for Pablo.
Portraits of Olga Khokhlova 1917 
Picasso behaved with Olga in a special way, not like with others. He not only formally proposed to the girl, but also walked the dancer down the aisle. For Khokhlova it was a natural step; for Picasso, who did not believe in God, it was a desire to please his beloved.
Picasso painted her a lot in a purely realistic manner. The ballerina herself insisted on this, because she did not like experiments in painting that she did not understand. “I want,” she said, “to recognize my face.”
In Barcelona, Picasso introduced Olga to his mother. She warmly received the Russian girl, went to performances with her participation, but once warned: “With my son, who was created only for himself and for no one else, no woman can be happy.” In Barcelona, the artist painted a “Hispanicized” portrait of her in a mantilla, which he gave to his mother.
On July 12, 1918, the wedding ceremony of Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova took place at the city hall of the 7th Parisian arrondissement. From there they went to the Russian Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on Daru Street, where the wedding took place. The service was Orthodox.
Picasso was convinced that he would marry for life, and therefore his marriage contract included an article stating that their property was common. In case of divorce, this meant dividing it equally, including all the paintings.
Witnesses on behalf of the groom were Jean Coq something, Marc Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire, great poet France and Poland.
The wedding was magnificent, luxurious, and after it the newlyweds left for their honeymoon.
19017 
1921
In France, they settled in a small house in the Parisian suburb of Montrouge - with a maid, dogs, birds and a thousand other different objects that accompanied the artist everywhere. Olga spoke French well, although with a strong Russian accent, and loved to listen to long fantastic stories that Pablo told her
in Montrouge he painted the famous "Portrait of Olga in an Armchair", which is now exhibited in the Picasso Museum in Paris. Comparing it with a photograph taken at the moment of posing, it is easy to see that the artist somewhat embellished her features.
1917 Portrait d"Olga dans un fauteuil
In family life, Picasso did not lose his enormous capacity for work and desire for perfection. He painted portraits of Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Bakst, Cocteau. He drew Olga for his first lithograph, which was used for an invitation card to his exhibition.
On February 4, 1921, their son Paul (Paulo) was born. At the age of 40, Picasso became a father for the first time. He made endless drawings of his son and wife, marking them not only with the day, but also with the hour. All of them are made in the neoclassical style, and the women in his image resemble Olympian deities.
1921 
1921
Olga Picasso con el pequeño Paulo, 1923
The artist seemed to follow the advice of Van Gogh, who wrote in a letter to his brother Theo: “exaggerate what is most essential.” In those years, Picasso “Searching in painting has no meaning. Only discoveries are important... We all know that art is not the truth. Art is a lie, but this lie teaches us to comprehend the truth, at least the truth that we people who are able to comprehend."
Portraits of son Paulo
All his life main passion there was creativity, for the sake of which he was ready to sacrifice everything. Picasso often talked about the 16th-century French ceramic artist Bernard de Palissy, who threw his furniture into the kiln to keep the fire going while firing. Picasso loved this story very much and saw in it a real example of “burning” in the name of art. He himself claimed that he would throw both his wife and children into the oven - if only the fire in it would not go out.
“Every time I change a woman,” said Picasso, “I must burn the one who was the last. In this way, I get rid of them. They will no longer be around me and complicate my life. This, perhaps, will also return my youth. By killing a woman, they destroy the past that she represents.” The artist liked to repeat that life is extended only by work and women.
Olga felt: Picasso began to change art style. By the way, this was inherent in him: whenever he had a new woman, Pablo changed creative manner. And now he stopped drawing ballerinas, began to be burdened by the acquaintances that his wife imposed on him, and shunned Russian emigrants. Olga was in despair. She didn't know how to prevent the impending breakup...
Picasso's heart was captured by 17-year-old Frenchwoman Marie-Thérèse Walter. At the time she met Pablo, this child-faced girl knew nothing about him or art in general; she had completely different hobbies. But the already middle-aged artist was able to easily seduce the young beauty. Their passionate romance caused Olga incredible suffering.
The artist himself once said that he divides all women into “goddesses” and “door mats”; according to this logic, with the advent of Marie-Therese, Olga became the very “mat” on which Pablo, without thinking, wiped his feet every day.
Picasso began to take out his hatred of her in painting. In a series of paintings dedicated to bullfighting, he depicted her either as a horse or as an old vixen. Explaining the reasons for their breakup later, the artist will say: “She wanted too much from me... It was the worst period in my life.”
They didn’t divorce, that’s what Picasso wanted, so as not to divide property
according to the marriage contract.
Due to strong experiences, Khokhlova began to experience nervous depression, with which she lived until the end of her days. Olga died in 1955 from cancer in Cannes and was buried in the local cemetery. Pablo did not come to say goodbye to the woman he once idolized. He had a completely different life, there was no place in it ex-lover and the mother of his son.
The Picasso Museum in Paris contains more than a hundred letters from Olga addressed to her husband, but access to them is currently closed.
PABLO PICASSO Woman Reading
On June 6, 1975, Paulo Picasso, the son of the artist and Olga, died from cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcohol and drugs at the age of 54. His two children, Marina and Bernard, were among the heirs. All heirs were given the right to take one of the artist’s works as a souvenir. Marina chose a painting depicting her very young grandmother, Olga Khokhlova.
1917
It’s somehow not customary to speak well of Pablo Picasso’s first wife. Olga Khokhlova was openly disliked by many of the artist’s friends. And he himself did not skimp on unflattering assessments. And Picasso’s biographers, who essentially knew about her only from his words, rarely gave Olga serious attention. She was a ballerina, got married, gave birth to a son, went crazy. But why did this woman attract Picasso so much? Was their family life unhappy from the very beginning? And how did Olga feel, before whose eyes Pablo’s mistresses alternated, while she remained his legal wife until the end of her days?
Olga Khokhlova and Pablo Picasso in 1917.
Picasso came to Rome at the beginning of 1917 to unwind and recover from his experiences love dramas. In December 1915, his beloved Marcelle Humbert, known among Parisian artists like Eva Guell. It was to her that he dedicated dozens of cubist paintings entitled “Ma jolie” (My Beauty) and “I Love Eve.” However, after her death, Picasso quickly came to his senses, started a new relationship and was even planning to get married. But in last moment the bride changed her mind. The 35-year-old artist was ready to settle down (at least that’s what he thought then) and have children. He needed peace and harmony, a “safe haven” to heal his wounds. Olga Khokhlova became just such a “harbor” for Picasso.
Olga Khokhlova in dance
Girl from a good family
Olga was born on June 17, 1891 in the Ukrainian Nezhin in the family of Colonel of the Imperial Army Stepan Vasilyevich Khokhlov. The stern father did not approve of his daughter’s passion for ballet, but the girl’s mother Lydia, after the family moved to Kyiv, began secretly taking Olga to classes. However, both parents were against her becoming a professional dancer. So, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, Olga ran away from them to Sergei Diaghilev. At the time she met Picasso, she had been dancing in the troupe for five years.
There are very conflicting memories about Olga Khokhlova’s professional abilities and her appearance. Someone from the troupe said that she was completely “nothing”, and it was not clear what attracted Picasso so much to her. Someone, on the contrary, compared her with “Russian Madonnas.” Olga was called a mediocre dancer, and Picasso’s beloved Françoise Gilot wrote in her book about him that Diaghilev kept Khokhlova in the troupe only because of her attractive appearance and noble origin. This is a very controversial statement, since Sergei Diaghilev, known for his pickiness and perfectionism, did not tolerate mediocrity and certainly would not have put on stage a mediocre ballerina just for “ beautiful eyes" It is known, however, that Olga was not a “prima”, but, of course, she had a certain amount of talent, good technique and remarkable hard work.
Pablo Picasso. Group of dancers
1920
Challenge accepted!
In relatively calm Rome, far from military everyday life, Picasso quickly perked up and began working on the scenery and costumes for Diaghilev’s ballet “Parade”. The Parisian Cubists were horrified: their idol had exchanged them for frivolous “art for the elite.” Picasso did not care about their complaints and attacks. He had long wanted to visit Rome, to take his mind off thoughts about whether he had done the right thing when he chose life and art instead of war and probable death. In addition, new love appeared on the horizon.
When he first saw Olga, Pablo blurted out in admiration: “You look amazing.” He began to charm and conquer the girl with all the strength of his hot Andalusian temperament. The first surprise for Picasso was that Olga accepted his advances somehow very restrainedly and said that with his pressure he was compromising her. He was even more amazed by her chastity. Noticing that the artist was seriously interested in Khokhlova, Sergei Diaghilev warned him that a Russian girl from a noble family would not sacrifice her innocence unless she was sure that the man was ready to take her as his wife. Well, for Picasso this was just another challenge. Olga's secrecy and isolation inflamed him even more. He was even ready to get married just to get this woman. After all, he was going to settle down, so why not with her?
Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova in Rome. 1917
The premiere of "Parade" took place in Paris on May 18, 1917 at the Chatelet Theater. Jean Cocteau, who also worked on the production, then stated: “The public wanted to kill us! Women armed with hatpins attacked us. Compared to what happened that evening at Chatelet, the bayonet attacks in Flanders were nothing. "Parade" became greatest battle throughout the war". These fabrications, designed to attract more attention to the production, angered those who suffered in the trenches. Of course, during the premiere of Diaghilev's ballet there were exclamations of indignation, but the applause drowned them out.
From Paris, Diaghilev's troupe went to Barcelona. At that time, the issue of Pablo and Olga’s marriage had already been decided, and the artist introduced the bride to his mother. Dona Maria received the girl warmly, went to her performances, but still considered it necessary to warn her: “Poor girl, you have no idea what you're dooming yourself to. If I were your friend, I would advise you not to marry him under any pretext. I don’t think that with my son, who is only concerned with himself, any woman can be happy.”. Olga, by that time already recklessly in love, did not listen to Dona Maria’s words.
Pablo Picasso. Olga Khokhlova in a mantilla
1917, 64×53 cm
Pablo and Olga spent several months in Barcelona. They could not return to Paris because Olga did not have a visa. When she was a member of Diaghilev’s troupe, she could cross borders without hindrance, but now difficulties arose with obtaining documents. Only a few people spoke French here, and no one spoke Russian at all. Picasso became practically the only point of support for the girl, especially after the revolution broke out in Russia, and Khokhlova found herself completely cut off from her family. Her father and three brothers died, her mother and sister hastily moved to Georgia. Olga spent almost all her time with her fiancé, he constantly painted her, and even returned to the classical style for the sake of his beloved, who wanted to recognize herself in portraits. Soon Pablo obtained permission to spend the night in her room. Diaghilev's troupe went on tour to South America without her. Olga never appeared on stage again.
Another Olga
Their wedding was originally scheduled for May 1918, but it had to be postponed. One morning Olga woke up with terrible pain in her leg and could not get out of bed. She underwent surgery and was in plaster until the end of June. On wedding ceremony, which took place on July 12, the bride leaned on a cane, and immediately after the festive breakfast she returned to the hospital.
During honeymoon, which Olga and Pablo spent in Biarritz, she was still recovering from the injury and spent most of the time in a chair or chaise lounge. This is exactly how Picasso painted her: serious, melancholic, always a little distant and always without a smile. This is how the public saw and imagined her. This is how Pablo’s friends saw her, mistaking her restraint for snobbery and arrogance.
Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Olga Khokhlova
1918
Olga and Pablo Picasso on their honeymoon. 1918
The first exhibition of Picasso’s works, dedicated exclusively to Olga Khokhlova, took place only in March 2017 at the Picasso Museum in Paris. And what a surprise the visitors were when they saw a completely different Olga. Smiling happily in early photographs, laughing and playing with dogs in family videos that Pablo shot. In one of them, Olga reads fortunes on the petals of a flower: “loves or doesn’t love.” And in a photograph taken by Picasso in his studio at the end of the 1920s, the artist’s slender and elegant wife sits in a chair against the backdrop of a portrait of a nude Marie-Thérèse Walter. Apparently there was some kind of sadistic plan in this: to humiliate the disgusted, unsuspecting wife by seating her next to her desired mistress.
Pablo Picasso. Olga with sewing
1920, 34.7×23.9 cm
Pablo Picasso. Olga with her hair down
1920, 105×75.5 cm
Olga at the villa in Juan-les-Pins. 1925
But this will not happen soon. In the meantime, the newlyweds, who returned from their honeymoon, settled in a luxurious apartment on La Boesie Street. The Picasso couple's home was strictly divided into two parts - male and female. Olga furnished her own (or rather, the common) part elegantly and stylishly and strictly monitored cleanliness and order (pedantry was also one of the traits for which the artist’s bohemian friends did not like her). This is how Brassai described this home: “A spacious dining room with a large, extendable table, a serving table, in each corner there is a round table on one leg; the living room is decorated in white tones, and the bedroom has a copper-trimmed double bed. Everything was thought out to the smallest detail, and there was not a speck of dust anywhere, the parquet and furniture sparkled.” In the second part of the house, Pablo reigned supreme: here was his workshop, in which chaos reigned, corresponding to his temperament. And here, by the way, there was a box with things that Picasso kept as a memory of his first Great love— Fernande Olivier.
Bohemian friends and colleagues condemned Picasso for turning into a real bourgeois. Naturally, his wife was blamed. However, the artist himself willingly began to play the role of a respectable gentleman and a respectable husband. He began to dress in expensive suits, accompanied Olga to balls and hosted Parisian high society. And his former friends were, as they would say now, too “informal” and did not fit well into the interior of the living room.
Pablo Picasso. In the salon on rue La Boesie: Jean Cocteau, Olga, Erik Satie, Clive Bell
In the salon on rue La Boesie: Jean Cocteau, Olga, Erik Satie, Clive Bell
1919, 49×61.2 cm
The Picasso couple at the Comte de Beaumont's ball. 1924
Declaration of Independence
On February 4, 1921, Olga Picasso gave birth to a son, who was named Paul (Paulo). At first, Pablo could not get enough of the appearance of the heir. He endlessly drew his son in his wife’s arms and beamed with pride and fatherly love. However, Olga overprotected her son and, according to Picasso biographer John Richardson, grew even more accustomed to the role. socialite, the wife of the great artist, and now also the mother of the family. By that time, Pablo had either already played enough of a “decent” bourgeois, or was tired of his friends’ attacks on his way of life. He told one of his models: “You see, Olga loves tea, caviar and cakes. And I - sausage and beans".
Pablo Picasso. Mother and child
1922, 100.3×81.4 cm
Olga and Paulo. 1928
Pablo Picasso. Family at sea
1922, 17×22 cm
In the summer of 1922, Olga became seriously ill—for the first time, gynecological problems made themselves felt, from which she would suffer for the rest of her days. The drawing, made by Sanguina in September of the same year, depicts Olga exhausted and sick. 41 years later, the artist, who was superstitiously afraid of everything connected with illness and death, gave this drawing to his son Paulo for Christmas.
The Picasso couple continued to be pillars of the Parisian elite. Countless dinner parties and social events tired Pablo, but at them he made useful acquaintances. At that time, another reason for the discord between the spouses was Olga’s attitude towards her son. According to the artist, she spoiled and looked after the boy too much. Picasso's constant irritation found an outlet in his paintings. Very soon, classicism in the spirit of Ingres will give way under the pressure of new revolutionary changes. In the summer of 1923, the artist purchased an apartment on the floor above and began to lead an even more independent life than usual. None of the servants were allowed to enter there, and even Olga had to ask permission to visit her husband. Picasso began to rarely be at home and began going to brothels again.
Pablo Picasso. Olga is thoughtful
1923, 105×74 cm
Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Olga
1923, 130×97 cm
Passion and hate
1927 was the beginning of the end for the Picasso couple. In January, Pablo met 17-year-old Marie-Therese Walter. To hide the affair from his wife, he rented an apartment for dates not far from the place where he met the girl. To hide it from everyone else, Picasso painted it in the form of a guitar, a jug or a dish of fruit. And he painted several notebooks with erotic pictures. It is noteworthy that at the same time the artist continued to live under the same roof with Olga, who, according to him, tormented him with scenes of jealousy and was not going to give up the role of an elegant wife and impeccable housewife. However, Pablo himself had no intention of getting a divorce. The mask of an exemplary family man served as an excellent cover for him.
The double life, of course, was reflected in Picasso’s paintings. And just as much as the images of Marie-Therese were filled with unbridled sexuality, the paintings with Olga or dedicated to her are full of rage. But for quite a long time, Picasso managed to ensure that these parallel lives did not intersect. Even when the artist was vacationing with his family on the Riviera, at every opportunity he ran to Marie-Therese, whom he settled nearby. During this vacation, Olga again began to have severe bleeding, she was forced to return to Paris and underwent another operation. In total, she spent almost five months in the hospital, only occasionally returning home. All this time, Picasso could freely meet with Marie-Therese.
Pablo Picasso. Nude, green leaves and bust
1932, 162×130 cm
Pablo Picasso. Bullfight. Death of a female bullfighter
1933, 21.7×27 cm
Of course, at some point Olga realized the existence of a rival. And although she did not seem to perceive Marie-Therese as a serious threat to her marriage with Pablo, she did not want to put up with humiliation either. But his wife’s tears and admonishments only aroused anger and guilt in Picasso. In 1929 he wrote “Nude in a Red Armchair”. Without directly naming the heroine’s name, the artist put all his growing hatred of Olga into this canvas. Broken limbs, mouth open in agony... Unable to remove her from his life, Picasso mercilessly disfigured on canvas the woman whom he had so lovingly painted in another chair just 10 years earlier.
Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Olga in a chair
1917, 130×89 cm
Pablo Picasso. Nude in a red chair.
1929 195×129 cm
On the ruins of happiness
Another humiliation awaited Olga at a large-scale retrospective of Picasso in 1932. Her husband's passion for another woman appeared before her in its entirety - from one shameless picture to another. But, oddly enough, the couple continued to live together. The last straw For Olga, Marie-Therese Walter became pregnant. Having taken her son, Olga moved out of the apartment on La Boesie Street, leaving it at the complete disposal of her husband. Soon she instructed her lawyer to draw up an inventory of all of Picasso’s property, for which the artist never forgave her. He also refused to give his wife a divorce, because in this case half of his paintings would have gone to her. Until the last day of her life, Olga remained Madame Picasso.
Has Olga really lost her mind? There is no clear evidence of this. One of Picasso’s biographers writes that Olga committed big mistake, betting everything on her fickle husband. She devoted herself entirely to her family and lived only in the interests of Picasso, failing to become independent. Disgraced and crushed, she was left completely alone. Even his beloved Paulo grew up and began to brush her off with the same irritation as his father. Olga desperately clung to happy moments from the past. That's why she chased Picasso on the streets, reminding him that before God they were still husband and wife. That’s why I wrote him letters and sent him photographs of my son. Therefore, she followed Pablo to Cannes, where she wandered from one hotel to another.
Pablo Picasso with Jacqueline Roque and Jean Cocteau at a bullfight in Vallauris. 1955
In 1953, Olga became seriously ill. Cancer ate her body long and painfully. Last months she spent time in the hospital, begging each of her acquaintances to call Pablo. These requests were conveyed to the artist, but he never visited his wife. Continuing to cling to the past in despair, Olga recalled the days when she danced on stage and dreamed of coming to Russia again. The only thing left of her old life, there was a steamer trunk filled with old suits, empty perfume bottles, letters and hundreds of photographs. Last days Olga spent time sorting through and looking at things that reminded her of her lost happiness. Madame Picasso died on February 11, 1955.
Olga Khokhlova in stage costume for the ballet "Scheherazade". OK. 1916
P.S.
Pablo Picasso outlived his first wife by 18 years. One day the artist said: “ My death will be like a shipwreck. When an ocean liner goes underwater, all the nearby ships are pulled into the funnel.”.
Françoise Gilot, who was lucky enough to survive this shipwreck, gave perhaps the most precise definition Picasso: “Pablo’s numerous stories and memories of Olga, Marie-Thérèse and Dora Maar, their constant presence behind the scenes of our life together gradually led me to the conclusion that Pablo had some sort of Bluebeard complex, making him want to chop off the heads of all the women collected in his small personal museum. But he did not cut off heads completely, he preferred that life move on, and all the women who lived with him at one time or another still squeaked faintly and made some gestures, like dismembered dolls. This gave him the feeling that life was still glimmering in them, that it was hanging on a thread, and the other end of this thread was in his hand.”.
Pablo Picasso. Olga Khokhlova, 1917
In October 2018 in Pushkinsky the museum will take place exhibition "Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova", dedicated to the Russian wife of the Spanish artist, ballerina of the Russian Seasons Olga Khokhlova. The exhibition will feature works by Picasso, which reflect the history of the dramatic relationship between the artist and his first official wife. The project is being prepared in collaboration with the Picasso Museum in Paris. In addition to works of painting and graphics from the Paris museum, the exhibition will be complemented by objects from other foreign museums and private collections. The museum notes that the story of Olga Khokhlova is closely connected with the Pushkin Museum: in the 1920s, the ballerina sent many photographs to her relatives in Russia, and now this unique collection kept in his funds.
The exhibition at the Pushkin Museum was preceded by a Paris exhibition at the National Picasso Museum, which will close on September 3. It contains more than 350 paintings, drawings, documents and photographs that illustrate the chronicle of the work and relationship of Pablo and Olga.
Olga was born on June 17, 1891 in the family of Colonel Russian imperial army Stepan Vasilyevich Khokhlov and his wife Lydia in the city of Nezhin. She wanted to become a ballerina since childhood, her parents did not approve of her choice, but still paid for training in the private studio of Evgenia Sokolova, a leading ballerina. and then a tutor Mariinsky Theater. Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Lyubov Egorova, Yulia Sedova, Vera Trefilova - all future celebrities passed through her hands. She trained her students seriously, but in St. Petersburg they only had a chance to have a professional career on the stage. Olga still managed to get into the troupe of Sergei Diaghilev himself.
Pablo Picasso. Group of dancers. Olga Khokhlova lies in the foreground, 1919 - 1920. Technique: Paper, pencil
Khokhlova never became a prima dancer, but it was during the Parisian tour of the Russian Ballet that she met Spanish artist, who was destined to become her first and only husband.
Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova against the background of a poster for the ballet Parade, 1917
Olga Khokhlova and Pablo Picasso met in Rome in the spring of 1917, when the artist, at the invitation of Jean Cocteau, was working on the sets and costumes for the ballet Parade. They got married a year later in Orthodox Cathedral Alexander Nevsky on the Rue Daru in Paris: witnesses were Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire. From that moment on, Picasso dramatically changed his artistic language.
Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova in a theater workshop in London in the fall of 1919
For the next ten years, his beloved wife became Picasso's main model. It changed not only the artist’s life, but also his work. Olga demanded that she could recognize and like herself in her husband’s portraits. And Picasso obeyed her: the blue and pink periods, African primitivism, and even cubism, which brought the first large earnings, were forgotten.
Olga, 1920s
Picasso reintroduced forgotten classicism into fashion and reminded the world of romanticism. We owe one of the best periods of Picasso’s work to Olga Khokhlova.
Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Olga, 1917
Picasso painted the portrait of Olga in Spanish costume specifically for his mother, who was concerned about her son’s marriage to a foreigner. In Barcelona, his son introduced his chosen one to her and the future mother-in-law then told Olga: “If I were your friend, I would advise you not to marry him under any circumstances. I don’t believe that a woman can be happy with my son. He is only concerned with himself.”
Pablo Picasso. Olga Khokhlova in a mantilla, 1917
Portrait of Olga Khokhlova, 1918
Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Olga in an armchair, 1918
Pablo Picasso. Three dancers: Olga Khokhlova, Lydia Lopukhova and Lyubov Chernysheva, 1919
Pablo Picasso. Seated dancer (Olga), 1920
Pablo Picasso. Reading Woman (Olga), 1920
Pablo Picasso. Reading woman, 1920
After the birth of her son in February 1921, Olga inspired Picasso to create numerous tender scenes of motherhood. Letters and photographs from personal archive indicate that during this period the couple was happy, and Picasso received worldwide recognition.
Pablo Picasso. Mother and child on the seashore. 1921
Pablo Picasso. Mother and Child, 1922
Pablo Picasso. Olga, 1923
1927 marked the beginning of the end of the relationship between Picasso and Khokhlova. The artist started an affair with a 17-year-old French girl, Marie-Therese Walter. And realistic portraits of his wife were replaced by canvases in which the artist plunged headlong into surrealism.
On August 26, 1894, Elena Dmitrievna Dyakonova was born in Kazan, who in the future became the famous Gala, wife and source of inspiration for the great Salvador Dali.
Let's remember who inspired Dali, Matisse and Picasso? Olga, Elena and Lydia. Let's take a look at the portraits of amazing Russian women who long years were companions greatest artists XX century.
Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Olga in a chair. 1917. Picasso Museum, Paris, France.
Muse of legal marriage
“Portrait of Olga in an Armchair” was written at the very beginning of their acquaintance. Fragile, graceful, withdrawn, melancholy - this was Olga Stepanovna Khokhlova, ballerina of the legendary troupe of Sergei Diaghilev. She captivated Picasso so much that for her sake the 37-year-old abstractionist temporarily changed his style and returned to realism. After all, she asked him: “I want to recognize my face in portraits...” And she came out recognizable - both in other portraits and in this one, perhaps the most famous.
Olga Khokhlova in a chair. Circa 1917.
The painting is based on a photograph of Olga in Picasso's studio, so we have a rare opportunity to compare how the artist in love saw her and how an impartial camera saw her. In all portraits early years their marriage, Olga is the same as in this one, seen through the prism of love - thoughtful, airy, ideal. A true “Russian soul”.
Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Olga Khokhlova in a mantilla. 1917. Picasso Museum, Malaga, Spain.
However, can a genius be content with one single muse? Picasso lasted for ten whole years. The further he went, the more his wife annoyed him. And so - no tenderness, the artist paints Olga either in the form of an old woman or in the form of a horse (in a series of paintings dedicated to bullfighting). Or he draws her in that very abstract style that Olga did not like so much. Picasso has a new hobby, and in the end Olga can’t stand it and leaves. He won’t give her a divorce - so as not to divide the paintings. Until her death she will remain Picasso's official wife. But she will stop being a muse.
Salvador Dali. Atomic Leda. 1949. Dalí Theatre-Museum, Figueres, Spain.
Muse of the inner world
“Atomic Leda” - one of the most widely circulated works - was written several years after the atomic bombing of Japan. But for the great surrealist what is happening in real world- just an excuse to talk about what happened in his inner world. And there reigned his wife, his majestic Gala. In the canvas, she becomes the new Leda, and Dali himself becomes Jupiter, a swan hovering nearby and almost not touching his beloved. “A sublime experience of libido” - this is how the artist will explain the image. Perhaps their relationship can be characterized this way.
Salvador Dali and Gala.
Gala is a nickname that translates as “holiday”. And its owner was a real fireworks display for her men. Before meeting Dali, she managed to be the muse of the French poet Paul Eluard (and even marry him) and German artist Max Ernst. But she didn’t hesitate to leave everyone for Dali, who at that time was ten years younger than her and not yet very famous. And he submitted to her with delight.
Salvador Dali "Corpuscular Azure Ascension of the Madonna", 1952.
Gala will become Dali's wife, secretary, manager and even nanny - in a word, everything. But, most importantly, she will become his muse. And if in the artist’s picture we see female image, you can be almost sure that it is her. It’s amazing: no matter what crazy world he creates around her, she herself is almost always written realistically. One can poetically assume that Gala was the only true reality of Salvador Dali.
Henri Matisse. Girl in a blue blouse (Portrait of Lydia Delectorskaya). 1939. State Hermitage Museum.
Muse of a happy old age
There are so many portraits of Lydia Delectorskaya that it is difficult to choose the most famous. Matisse himself admitted: “When I’m bored, I make a portrait of Madame Lydia. I know it like a letter." Here, for example, is a portrait from 1939, painted at the very beginning of World War II. Golden hair, blue blouse (judging by other paintings, the artist liked to paint it in blue). A calm, spiritual young face, on which it is not the lips that smile, but the eyes. It was this portrait that Lydia herself once brought to Soviet Union and gave it to the Hermitage. The 1947 painting, also donated to the Hermitage, is at first glance more abstract, the lines of the face are simplified - but the girl’s sweet face remains recognizable.
Henri Matisse and Lydia Delectorskaya.
Russian emigrant Lydia, forced to look for a livelihood after an unsuccessful marriage, knocked on the door of Matisse’s studio in search of work in 1932, when she was 22. She was lucky to become the master’s assistant, secretary, and in addition, a nurse for his disabled wife. It is unlikely that then, having met the 65-year-old master, she could have imagined that she would become his favorite model, muse and such a close person that, as she later admitted, “she was the light of his eyes for 20 years,” and for me he was the only meaning of life."
Henri Matisse. Portrait of Lydia Delectorskaya. 1947. State Hermitage Museum.
“Friend and assistant,” whom the artist adored, received from him not only a salary, but also gifts that became priceless over time - her works. After his death, Lydia lived another long life, but could never forget Matisse. And even though she left Russia as a child, it was to her homeland that Lydia Delectorskaya gave her “Matisse” collection: not only his paintings and drawings, but also the blouses and jewelry in which she posed for the master, as well as his personal belongings. On her tombstone in Pavlovsk it is inscribed: “Matisse preserved her beauty for eternity.”
Title, English: Portrait of Olga in the Armchair.
original name: Portrait d'Olga dans un fauteuil.
Year of ending: 1917.
Dimensions: 130 × 89 cm.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Location: Paris, Picasso Museum
The years 1916-1925 are considered the period when Picasso unexpectedly returned to the classical portrait; transparent outlines, light tones, and regular features of faces and figures appeared in the paintings. Why these years? Art critics explain this revolution in his work by external circumstances. Firstly, Georges Braque, with whom they “invented” and improved Cubism, went to the front. At this time, Picasso himself was invited to Italy to design a performance for Diaghilev’s troupe, and he ended up on Wednesday classical ballet and the ancient atmosphere of Rome. Direct collaboration with the Russian Ballet influenced the artist, who began to turn to visual techniques and subjects in his work classical art. And most importantly, during this period, a charming Russian woman (who became his official wife), the ballerina of Sergei Diaghilev’s troupe, Olga Khokhlova, lived next to him and inspired him. The numerous portraits of the ballerina are some of the most captivating works ever painted by the artist, even though they somewhat puzzled the society of the time with their slightly classical orientation and parody. Olga did not like uncertainty in painting, could not stand Picasso’s creative quest and insisted on being recognizable on the canvases and the artist fulfilled her request for as long as he could. Picasso’s feelings for Olga were also manifested in the fact that at first he embellished his wife everywhere on canvas. It is unlikely that Pablo did this consciously; most likely, this is exactly how he saw Olga, whose gentle charm fascinated him. This period is full of tenderness and love, and it is not clear what is more important for him - inspiration or love, but perhaps these feelings are simply inseparable in his life. For some, Olga Khokhlova was an average ballerina, of unremarkable beauty and not high intelligence. The artist’s friends, deprived of the rose-colored glasses of love, saw her as an unremarkable bourgeois. Many claimed that in life she was much simpler and less interesting than in these portraits - but when has a loving gaze been objective? He idealized her, made her a deity, saw her like that and we have no right to argue here. For Picasso, who tried prostitutes, and bisexual models, and tubercular beauties, and dark-skinned girls from Martinique, Olga was so ordinary that she was considered exotic. But there was also some kind of mystery in it. This time it was not the mystery of another reality, but the mystery of another country. Picasso found something fascinating in everything Russian.
As you know, Picasso’s companions in his paintings often personified what he thought about them. When he loved his women they were beautiful, when he got tired of them they became scary. But we must remember that Picasso created the painting solely for himself, he had no intention that everyone would see it. Olga attracted him not only as a man, but also as a creator who not only sees, but feels her beauty; for him this beauty is pure, perfect, a little naive. But unfortunately, over time, she became just an abandoned muse for the artist, nothing more.
Most expressive picture These years are considered Portrait of Olga in an Armchair (1917). It was written in Montrouge, a southern suburb of Paris, shortly after they met. His love for Olga inspires him, her Slavic beauty is traditional, real, and it is not surprising that she is created in a realistic manner. The portrait is based on a photograph of Olga sitting on a chair in Picasso's dingy studio with random drawings on the wall, African sculptures and rags on the floor. In the painting, Pablo decided not to show the workshop - instead, he left the canvas partially unpainted, did not go into detail, replaced it with an abstract empty beige space, except for a few imaginary lines and brushstrokes. It's strange that the model casts a shadow on an empty background, because this is not revealed in the photo. Comparing the portrait with a photograph taken at the moment of posing, it is easy to notice that the artist somewhat embellished the facial features. The photo shows a seated and melancholic Olga in beautiful dress with a floral design that Picasso bought for her on La Rambla in Barcelona. The artist asked Olga to comb her hair in the middle to emphasize the regularity of her facial features. He kept this photographic image as proof of the idealization of the image of his model.
He made Olga a sculpture - his own fertility fetish, displaying a portrait of her soul. A certain stiffness of feelings is noticeable here, which was not particularly characteristic of Picasso, and a tendency towards balance and clarity of form. The polished, magnificent drawing, the harmony of the composition - all this added flavor to the painting. ancient art. Her figure is outlined by a continuous contour and at the same time preserves the naturalness of plasticity and movement. Despite the blazing colors, the painting has an air of artificiality, with Olga appearing isolated in an empty space. Picasso saw in Olga an amazing inner calm, restraint, and uncloudedness of feelings. The portrait of Olga in a chair is unique in that it makes it possible not only to see “in color” what the ballerina was like back in 1917, but also to re-evaluate the capabilities of the painter Picasso. It is clear that he loved this woman, that he appreciated her Russian beauty, for her sake he changed his style, became softer. The classical style is reflected in everything - a peacefully smooth line, a whimsical play of shades, a languid Spanish flavor. At the same time, he subtly conveys the mystery and charm of the Russian soul with the help of some precise details: pale skin model, her uncertain pose - either sitting or standing, distant gaze. An original style of execution is used: the play of volumes is thrown onto a flat background, making the woman seem to float in space. We see that he has made brush strokes on the left, as if he is still going on, and will continue to do so, but he stops. Some scholars see Picasso's depiction of the gray shadow to the right of Olga's head - wavy areas similar to the outline of the lips and chin, and above them the long line of the nose. It's all like a profile of a person, a creation of an ethereal presence that haunts the portrait. It's interesting because he does this in more later works, and in part this can be considered as a shadow of one’s own presence in it, contemplation.
Olga’s fragile figure in the dress is painted almost in black, brownish-lilac tones, and only the model’s thin white face, beautiful hands, a high girl’s neck, bright flowers on the fan and fabric draped over the back of the chair, as if they illuminate the space with flashes. The richness of combinations - black and red, golden and white, terracotta and black - make the portrait elegant, almost ceremonial. This portrait is simply beautiful, she is natural, and besides, the mystery in her face makes you look at her again and again. It seems that when he wrote to Olga he had a smile on his face, no aggression. It feels like this is exactly the woman he was ready to protect - only here tenderness is felt. True, there is no life here, active beauty, admiring and inspired, it is very beautiful, colorful, but frozen. Despite the fact that Olga is sitting here in a rather free position, one gets the impression that she is a little awkward. She poses awkwardly, you can feel the tension in her pose, but it’s natural. And most importantly, the portrait is deeply psychological. He also offers a new look at the characterization of Picasso’s beloved. Olga’s vulnerable, touchy and withdrawn nature is clearly visible. More like lost child, she doesn’t even try to “sit” in the chair as a “proud mistress of the situation.” Both the fan and the flowers on the upholstery of the chair - all the bright decorative surroundings live a life separate from her. Olga seems even more fragile, even more lonely, surrounded by the “cheerful” wealth of colors. The unexpected orange-beige, smooth, empty background of the wall behind the chair in which Pablo’s posing lover is sitting introduces a vague feeling of anxiety and uncertainty, a note of drama. As if something is wrong in the picture, something is missing - as if someone should enter or, on the contrary, disappear. And the model itself is too light for a heavy chair and for this empty wall background. She - sitting with a closed face, aloof - seems like a stranger at the festival of colors. With an irresistible force of resistance, the image created by the artist breaks out of the “framework” of the ceremonial portrait given to him. In this Olga, immersed in her thoughts, there is not a grain or molecule of challenge to the world; the image of a fragile girl does not in any way correlate with the legend created later about the difficult and domineering character of Picasso’s Russian wife. The portrait of Olga in the chair is fraught with many other surprises and revelations. Instead of the fashionable “Spanish flu”, a simple and sweet Moscow young lady appeared in a completely incomprehensible way in the portrait. By the will of heaven or providence, Olga Khokhlova was wearing a dress reminiscent of the Empire style - with a high waist, she has a classic smooth hairstyle, the curves of her hair elegantly harmonize with the curved edge of her neckline, and she holds a folded fan in her hands. And it’s not just about the model’s appearance and small details. The portrait contains echoes of traditional romantic Russian and Western portraits early XIX century. One way or another, it seems quite significant that Picasso not only used his favorite color combinations portraits of the first quarter of the XIX centuries - gold, bronze and black, terracotta and white - but he caught and brought into the light of day the very essence of this modest Russian young lady, which Olga remained. Even though the artist did not look that far and perhaps wanted to depict something completely different, but instinctively, brilliantly, accidentally - he hit the mark yet again. And this one is the most famous psychological picture Olga Khokhlova can be considered famous family a mystical “corridor” along which you can easily walk into past and future times, explain everything and understand everything. But if only everyone could look that far!
It was love with a sad ending. It's a shame this one ended so sadly beautiful story love, in which the Russian ballerina played the most striking role in her life. Her attentive feminine gaze followed from afar the work of the genius whom she continued to love, without even understanding him. She died as Olga Picasso, officially remaining the artist’s wife, as if letting him know that she continued to love him in her own way all these years. Passion and tenderness come to us on different roads, but each love is beautiful in its own way and, whatever one may say, is still immortal...
The portrait of Olga in the chair is a property National Museum Picasso is in Paris, where more than a hundred of her letters addressed to her husband are kept. However, access to them is still closed. Undoubtedly, they would help to better understand their complex relationship and the role played by the Russian ballerina in the life of the great maestro. In 2010, in connection with the reconstruction of the Paris Museum, a grand exhibition of Picasso was held in State Museum Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin. The domestic public owed this event primarily to the Year of France in Russia. The exhibition was also supplemented by works by Picasso from the Pushkin Museum collection and was one of the largest in Russia over the past 50 years. This was the main cultural event of the year. Also, the museum archive has rare photographs Picasso, Olga Khokhlova and their son Paul, which were acquired in 1973 from Lyudmila Nikolaevna Mitina, whose stepfather Vladimir Stepanovich was the brother of the artist’s wife.
More than 250 works (among them Portrait of Olga in an Armchair) from the Paris Picasso Museum will be exhibited at the Royal Palace in Milan. This exhibition "Pablo Picasso: Masterpieces from the National Picasso Museum in Paris" will take place from September 20, 2012 to January 6, 2013.
