Pablo Picasso
Every great artist needs a muse to inspire them, right? Well, in the case of Pablo Picasso, he needed more than one. In fact, over the course of his long, eventful life, the Spaniard took hundreds of lovers and several wives, with many affairs overlapping. For his supporters, such dalliances inspired Picasso in his work. To his critics, however, while he was undoubtedly an artist without peers, as a human being he was seriously flawed, with his womanizing ways causing much grief and heartbreak.
Like with so many serious womanizers, Picasso was introduced to sex from an early age. Born in 1881, he started to frequent brothels in his native Malaga from the age of 13. Shockingly, it was his father who took him to these houses of ill-repute. These early experiences shone through in his first works of art. Many early paintings were practically pornographic and scandalized the deeply Catholic society of the time. Once he moved to Paris at the start of the new century, his talents only grew – as did his insatiable lust.
Throughout his career, Picasso produced around 2,500 works. And it’s estimated he had just as many lovers. By all accounts, Picasso liked his women to be submissive to him, and also to be shorter than him. Some he took as models and lovers for just a day or two, others stayed part of his life for weeks, months or even years. Yes, he married, but any wedding vows didn’t mean much to Picasso. In 1935, he left his first wife, Olga, for his pregnant mistress, Marie-Therese Walter (almost 30 years his junior), though he refused to get divorced as he didn’t want to lose any of his fortunes. Even in old age, he was insatiable. He married again at the age of 79, though even then he would pursue other women in full view of his wife Jacqueline.
However, there was a darker side to Picasso’s fun. According to several histories, his lack of fidelity, or even compassion for those closest to him, caused more than just a few broken hearts. His first wife Olga would eventually drink herself to death as she was unable to cope with Picasso’s refusal to grant her a divorce. Another two of his lovers were driven to mental breakdowns, and he never spoke to two of his four children after their mother published a tell-all memoir about her time with the great artist.
Picasso died in 1973 at the grand old age of 1973. His second wife Jacqueline was by his side. But there was one more twist: A statue of Marie-Therese was placed on top of his grave, a testament to his great love for her. Marie-Therese Walter hanged herself just four years later, while Jacqueline shot herself in 1986, unable to live without the man she had been obsessed with despite his cruel nature and womanizing ways.