Surviving Picasso essays

Surviving Picasso essays SURVIVING PICASSO tells the story of Picasso's love affairs from the time of the Nazi occu pation of Paris to his death decades later. His painting is treated as secondary material, it is just known he an accomplished painter. Only a few times is he shown actually painting. When Picasso first meets Francoise and her girlfriend, he warns them, "You are in the labyrinth of the Minotaur. You should know that the Minotaur consumes at least two maidens a day." His view of himself as a dirty old man is shared by his previous lover Dora Maar who tells him, "You may be a great painter, but you are morally corrupt. You've contaminated the whole world." Picasso has had many lovers and/or wives he seem to have them under a spell. At first I think they are drawn to him because of who he is and are a little starstruck. He seemed to be charming at times, but quite possesive and somewhat insane at other times. A weird thign about him is that he saved every piece of cut hair and every nail clipping of his. He had them carefully num bered and dated so that no one could steal them and do black magic against him. I really couldnt understand his mindset, like where he was comign from. It was quite apparent thtat he didnt think of his wives/lovers as human beings. They were like possesions he owned. I found it sad how attached his earlier wife got. I guess by the way he kept his lovers they had no choice but ot live for him if they were locked up in a house. Im sure most would go insane , then topping it off with seeign him with someone else. Upon seeing a cat in a field he remarks, "I love wild cats. They are always pregnant because they think of nothing but love." He then forces Francoise to watch as a big bird swoops down and kills the poor cat. Picasso is not shown to have a remorseful bone in his body. The closest he comes is when he declares, "I make ...