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Françoise Gilot
Le Bouquet Rouge, 1969
Color lithograph in five colors on Arches paper
37 ¾ x 31 inches
Printed at Mourlot Graphics, Ltd., New York
Gift of the artist
Born November 26, 1921 in Neilly-sur-Seine, Françoise Gilot is a French painter, critic and best-selling author. At the age of 21, she embarked on a decade long relationship with Pablo Picasso, "…a catastrophe I didn't want to avoid."
Gilot is considered by some to have been his muse, and though her work during that time was influenced by Picasso's Cubism, her paintings are characterized by a preference for organic forms rather than Picasso's use of sharp angles.
Gilot's commitment to art predated her encounter with Picasso, and continued after she left him in 1953. She married American vaccine pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk in 1970. During their 25-year marriage, she maintained studios in La Jolla, New York, and Paris
as her career thrived. Now 95, Gilot spoke with Anthony Mason about her life as an artist and partner to one of the most famous and controversial painters in history.
Le Bouquet Rouge, 1969
This five-color lithograph is an example of Gilot's abstractions that stimulate the onlooker towards new insights and perceptions. The structured composition features saturated color, incorporating a dominant cadmium red. A sense of dimension and space
is achieved through color as light, rather than through detail. Le Bouquet Rouge can be viewed in the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care.