«I LIKE EVERYBODY'S ART»

Picasso had multiple homes in the south, first with his lover Francoise Gilot (a twentysomething artist), then with Jacqueline Roque, who became his second wife. From the pottery town of Vallauris, where he made his earliest ceramics, he moved in 1955 to a villa in the hills above Cannes, then bought a chateau in Provence in 1958, where he and Jacqueline are now buried. A final villa was bought in 1961 in Mougins, away from the overdeveloped coast. A regular guest of the Picasso household was Richardson, whose three-volume A Life of Picasso is considered the artist's definitive biography. The fourth volume, which starts in 1932-33 and may lead all the way up to the artist's death in 1973, is in progress, says Richardson. So what was Picasso like? ``With his friends, Picasso was the most generous, warmest, the most fun,'' says Richardson, who is tanned and younger-looking than his 86 years. ``He was touchy-feely. I mean, huge hugs.`If there were eight of you having lunch in the studio, you'd watch him work the room -- young girl, older woman, man he'd known forever, kids, even the dogs,'' recalls Richardson. ``He'd get everybody's energy.''

Miami Herald
July 25 2010