He was a misogynist who, by his own admission, used women until they broke and then abandoned them. I'll let wikipedia summarize:
Picasso has been characterised as a womaniser and a misogynist, being quoted as saying to long-time partner Françoise Gilot that "women are machines for suffering."[136] He later allegedly told her, "For me there are only two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats."[137] In her memoir, Picasso, My Grandfather, Marina Picasso writes of his treatment of women, "He submitted them to his animal sexuality, tamed them, bewitched them, ingested them, and crushed them onto his canvas. After he had spent many nights extracting their essence, once they were bled dry, he would dispose of them."[138]
Of the several important women in his life, two – lover Marie-Thèrése Walter and his second wife Jacqueline Roque – died by suicide. Others, notably his first wife Olga Khokhlova and lover Dora Maar, succumbed to nervous breakdowns.
He was also super into bullfighting. i.e. torturing animals to death for kicks. Aside from his artistic contributions, he had very few redeeming qualities. I read a biography of him a number of years back, and I mostly remember it being appalling.
Just learning about this, I have to say that’s really tame. He pumped and dumped women, that’s probably the most normal scandalous thing a famous person could be doing.
And I’m pretty sure he wasn’t actually "bleeding then dry", from that quote i would assume he used them for creative inspiration, as his muse(s).
Though I concede that the frequency of suicide amongst his partners seems a bit odd.
Its not a win. It’s pointing out how stupid the above comment is, suggesting I’m some sort of sex offender because I’m not clutching my pearls that an artist in another time was an asshole to his partners.
Why though? Honest question. I don’t understand those downvotes either.
This is a dead guy, from a time with very different morality to what we have today. The quote suggests he was an excessive womanizer, probably an asshole too.
Within the range of depravity that seems very tame for for the time period. No raping, no murdering, "just" a selfish dick who enjoys women and then moves on to the next when they are no longer interesting, that seems somewhat normal for (famous) artists in general.
I do however repeat that I just learned about this from these comments and have not read further on the matter than what is quoted here, so my interpretation may be incomplete. And there is also the weird suicides thing.
I have said in every fucking comment that I HAVE NOT READ UP ON THE SUBJECT AND AM EXCLUSIVELY REFERRING TO WHAT HAS BEEN QUOTED IN THIS THREAD.
And the quote doesn’t say that he tortured women to suicide, it says some of his partners killed themselves. And I both times mentioned that as peculiar, as in, if truly a result of his deliberate actions, it would reframe my interpretation.
This site is worse than reddit with the virtue signaling, holy shit. So many people telling me what an asshole I am, yet nobody is providing information that would prove them right.
Picasso has been characterised as a womaniser and a misogynist, being quoted as saying to long-time partner Françoise Gilot that "women are machines for suffering."[136] He later allegedly told her, "For me there are only two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats."[137] In her memoir, Picasso, My Grandfather, Marina Picasso writes of his treatment of women, "He submitted them to his animal sexuality, tamed them, bewitched them, ingested them, and crushed them onto his canvas. After he had spent many nights extracting their essence, once they were bled dry, he would dispose of them."[138]