11. When Picasso Lost Control, He Lost Interest
Picasso displayed a trend throughout his life towards his intimate partners: the moment they became ill or ceased to inspire his creativity he lost interest and moved on. After Fernande Olivier became sick, he left her. As his first wife’s, Olga Khokhlova, mental illness became worse the painter took more lovers on the side and redoubled his efforts to divorce her. When Eva Gouel also fell ill, he again took on a new lover and neglected her.
Only one woman in Picasso’s entire life was documented to have left him. All the others were either abandoned or had to share his attention with other women. Many of the women served to inspire and fuel a unique period of his art, such as the Rose or Blue period and were cast aside as soon as the interest in both them and the art they inspired waned.
Picasso held all women to either be goddesses or doormats. It appeared he visioned many of his muses to be goddesses, and once that unearthly quality wore off, he no longer held them in any regard. Even the women who, quite bluntly, served as doormats to his creativity like Marie-Thérèse Walter, eventually fell out of his favor and were cast aside in favor of newer (and younger) muses.