Death of Maya, daughter of Pablo Picasso, beloved (but toxic) father

Maya, daughter of the painter Pablo Picasso and Marie-Thérèse Walterdied on Tuesday 20 December. “Maya Ruiz-Picasso passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by her family, at the age of 87. »the relatives of the deceased said, in a statement sent to AFP extension by attorney Richard Malka. With her husband Pierre Widmaier, Maya had 3 children, Olivier, Richard and Diana.

A daughter/muse

Born Maria de la Concepción Picasso, on September 5, 1935 in Boulogne-Billancourt, she who was nicknamed simply ” Maya” is known for the many paintings her father made of her as a child.. In 1938, for example, he signed Maya with the doll, Maya with doll and horse, Maya in sailor suit, Maya at the boat and Mayan apron. Portraits currently presented at the National Picasso Museum in Paris, as part of the exhibition Maya Ruiz-Picasso, daughter of Pablo, organized by Diana Widmaier-Picasso, daughter of Maya and granddaughter of Picasso. We also discover the 8 works that Maya donated to the French state in September 2021, as part of a dation, a tax system that allows works of art and national treasures to be donated as payment of inheritance, transfer or wealth tax.

This intimate exhibit is meant to demonstrate a father’s love for his daughter. Olivier Widmaier-Picasso, Maya’s eldest son, also relied on AFP extension about his mother: “He’s the only person in the world I know who didn’t talk about Pablo Picasso but about dad. (…) I think it testifies to this exceptional relationship that she had with him ”. But other testimonies of the Picasso family prove that this portrait of the Spanish painter portrayed as a tender and loving father is incomplete to say the least.

Picasso, a toxic father

In his podcast titled Venus was shaving her pussyJulie Beauzac dedicates an episode to a rarely presented face of the famous painter. In “Picasso, separating the man from the artist »triple awarded at the Paris Podcast Festival in October 2021, tells in particular of the toxic father who was Pablo Picasso. Father of 4 childrenthe latter not only painted Maya, but also Paulo, his eldest son born in 1921 of his relationship with the Russian dancer Olga Khokhlova, who he exploited when the latter was his chauffeur, as well as Claude and Paloma born from his marriage to the French artist Françoise Gilot.

In his book titled Living with Picassopublished 10 years after her divorce from the painter, Françoise Gilot also writes that Picasso said his works were “much more his children than the humans who claimed to be his children”. So much for sweet dad… We also find out that after losing all the lawsuits against his ex-wife and her publishing house to get this book banned, picasso “he refused to see Claude and Paloma (…). She has even stopped seeing Maya, her daughter with Marie-Thérèse Walter. » Maya’s mother “spent almost all of his adult life under his influence (that of Pablo Picasso nldr)”, explains Julie Beauzac in her podcast. She was only 17 when she met the painter, he was already 45. She committed suicide 4 years after the painter’s death, in 1977.

Cover photo: Youtube screenshot