Picasso: The Last Life
Living by Self
The loss of youthful vigor was gradually turning the octogenarian Picasso into a recluse. His prostrate ailments got worse and he had to be operated upon in 1965. It was believed that the surgery took away his sexual powers to leave him impotent. It was a quite a blow for a man given to sexual pleasures during the most part of life. Possibly to cope with this change, Picasso vented his energy more into his paintings and became more prolific in his creation. He became increasingly reclusive and submerged himself in his work. His wife Jacqueline allowed only a few people to meet him other than friends very close to him. Even Picasso’s two children by Francoise were denied meeting with their father.
Prolific at Old Age
The three years from 1968 to 1971 found the old artist devoting his time exclusively to his work. The numerous paintings and engravings on copperplates of this period demonstrated courageous experiments with new styles that had a greater degree of color and expression. The expressions in the paintings of this period were so ahead of time that most of these creations were rubbished as wild fantasies of an old and impotent artist. Even his admirers found little merit in these works which had transcended the abstract expressionism. That it was neo-expressionism that Picasso was creating was realized only long after his death.
The End
Pablo Picasso died at Mougins, France on April 8, 1973 at the age of 91. He was laid to rest at the castle park at Vauvenargues in Bouches-du-Rhone. His two children Claude and Paloma by her painter lover Francoise were not allowed to attend the funereal by his wife Jacqueline. He died intestate and many of his works were collected by the French government as estate tax. The artist who in his lifetime became rich did not sell many of his favorite works which he did not need to. Most of such works now find place in Musee Picasso in Paris and Museo Picasso, Malaga.
