In a temporary exhibition you can discover Françoise Gilot, the artist and companion that changed Pablo Picasso, his art and his life.
When you arrive in Málaga, one of the first things you learn is that this is the birthplace of none other than Pablo Picasso, one of the most celebrated and influential artists in history. Naturally, many tourists immediately book a visit to the Museo Picasso. You go there, and it leaves you speechless: dozens of works from his youth, technical masterpieces, traces of who he was before he became the legend we know today — a path that reveals his artistic evolution.
But, hidden in the corners of Plaza de la Merced, street number 15, there’s another piece of his story that is often ignored by expats and tourists alike: the Museo Casa Natal Picasso. Open every single day, from 9:30 to 20:00, for a small fee of 3€ you access the exact building where Picasso was born.
The museum offers the chance to travel back in time, with an accurate reconstruction of the family’s living spaces, including original objects that once belonged to them. Across three floors, you’ll also find permanent exhibitions featuring additional works by Picasso, pieces by his father, José Ruiz Blasco, and thousands of artworks by other contemporary artists such as Miró, Bacon, Ernst and Chagall.
The journey continues in the building right in front of it: Plaza de la Merced 13. This place is dedicated to the temporary expositions, and right now, to one that you absolutely cannot miss: “Vida con Françoise“, the artist that completely changed Picasso’s life.
Françoise Gilot: the genius and the strength
Gilot was born in southern France in 1921. Raised in a bourgeois family, she was encouraged from an early age to pursue an academic career, in particular law. Yet her passion was, and remained through her whole life, art. Inspired by her mother’s style, she too became a watercolour painter. Surrealism formed the foundation of her work, though she developed her own distinctive approach, marked by vibrant colors and clean, precise lines.
She became an established painter when she was still very young, making herself known through the artistic environments of Paris, and that’s when she met Picasso. Gilot was 21 at the time, and he was 61. She stayed with him for ten years, and they had two children together, Claude and Paloma.
Her art and her personality deeply influenced Picasso’s style. The time period of this relationship coincides with Picasso’s “Joie de Vivre” era, during that his paintings regained colour and vivacity. All his paintings regain colour and vivacity, both inspired by her personal style, as well as her character. In the masterpiece “La femme fleur” – “The flower woman”, we can see her portrayed as he saw her, strong, radiant, a force of nature.
Gilot is also the one who pushed Picasso to Vallauris, in the south of France, where they both explored ceramic work. This is also considered the last innovative chapter of Picasso’s life.
True to herself, her character and her values, Françoise Gilot is today also remembered as the only companion of Picasso that spontaneously left him. He was known to be a tyrant, abusive and toxic in his relationships, but Gilot never wanted this fate for herself, so she left, with her two children.
Her life, her story, her art, her deeply problematic and intense relationship with Picasso, are all beautifully narrated in this temporary exhibition, in an excursus that retraces the years they spent together, and the overall impact she had on him. You can visit the exhibition on the same days and at the same times as the main building, for just €3. If you decide to see both, museum and exhibition, you have the right to a small discount, paying only 4€ for both.
“Vida con Francçoise” is waiting for you: sometimes the real stories are just around the corner, in this case at the corner of Plaza de la Merced.
