Françoise Gilot
Biography1921 -
About the artist
Françoise Gilot (1921, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France ) is a French painter. Françoise was born to Émile and Madeleine Renoult-Gilot. Her father was a well-educated businessman and agronomist, her mother was an aquarellist. Françoise became ambidextrous (left-handed and right-handed). Along with Mlle. Meuge, her mother tutored her in art and water colour. When she was 17, she attended the Sorbonne and the British Institute in Paris (now University of London Institute of London in Paris) and in 1938 she graduated from the Sorbonne with a B.A. in Philosophy, and in 1939 from Cambridge University with a degree in English. During 1939, Gilot's father wanted her to complete a degree in international law in Rennes, but at the age of 19, Françoise abandoned her studies in law to devote her life to art.
She was mentored by the artist Endre Rozsda. Gilot had her first exhibition of paintings in Paris in 1943. When she was 21, Gilot met Pablo Picasso, then 61. She moved in with him in 1946. They spent almost ten years together. Picasso and Gilot never married but had two children, Claude (1947) and Paloma (1949). Although Picasso had influenced Françoise Gilot's work as a cubist painter, she developed her own style. She avoided the sharp edges and angular forms that Picasso sometimes used. Instead, she used organic figures. After their separation, Gilot and Carlton Lake, an art critic, wrote Life with Picasso (1964; repr. 1989). Later she married the American vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk. In 1973, Gilot was appointed Art Director of the scholarly journal Virginia Woolf Quarterly. In 1976, she was made a member of the board of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of California. She held summer courses there and had organizational responsibilities until 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she designed costumes, stage sets, and masks for productions at Guggenheim, New York. In 1990, she became a Knight in the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Légion d’ Honneur).
She was mentored by the artist Endre Rozsda. Gilot had her first exhibition of paintings in Paris in 1943. When she was 21, Gilot met Pablo Picasso, then 61. She moved in with him in 1946. They spent almost ten years together. Picasso and Gilot never married but had two children, Claude (1947) and Paloma (1949). Although Picasso had influenced Françoise Gilot's work as a cubist painter, she developed her own style. She avoided the sharp edges and angular forms that Picasso sometimes used. Instead, she used organic figures. After their separation, Gilot and Carlton Lake, an art critic, wrote Life with Picasso (1964; repr. 1989). Later she married the American vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk. In 1973, Gilot was appointed Art Director of the scholarly journal Virginia Woolf Quarterly. In 1976, she was made a member of the board of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of California. She held summer courses there and had organizational responsibilities until 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she designed costumes, stage sets, and masks for productions at Guggenheim, New York. In 1990, she became a Knight in the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Légion d’ Honneur).
