Picasso - Walking the Walk

Next week we set off for Paris for the Piasa auction. I love this event - for me it is a "must-go" opportunity to buy art, see friends, eat wonderful dinners and do some good business. This year I take with me a wonderful new book: "Picasso's Paris" by Ellen Williams. The book is a walkers guide to Picasso's life and times in Paris - I intend to walk the walk!

The book describes the life of Picasso in the French capital. Where he lived at different periods, the cafes he frequented, the restaurants he dined in and some of the people he knew. Having left his native Spain and before he lived in the South of France, Picasso spent most of his time in Paris. The book is divided into 4 different "walks"

WALK ONE: Bohemian Montmartre - The time of the Bateau Levoir, the Blue and the Rose periods. Picasso lived with "La Belle Fernande" in the so called "Bateau Lavoir" - 13 Place Emile-Goudeau between 1904 - 1909. This "slum dwelling" was a haven of poverty-stricken artists inhabited by Juan Gris, Kees Van Dongen and Modigliani - to name but a few. The walk then takes you to a bourgeois apartment in Montmartre where Picasso and his girlfriend moved to as he was now achieving considerable financial success and finally we climb up a steep hill to the wonderful Basilica of Sacre-Coeur (A subject dealt with often in early cubist paintings. In Montmartre we will probably stop for a coffee/drink in "La Mere Catherine" on the Place de Tertre. The many passing tourists will not realise that in this place the "Bande Picasso" would often meet and greet each other. We go down the steep hill to the Boulevard de Clichy where Picasso and Fernande lived in their time of affluence.

WALK TWO; MONTPARNASSE - Picasso and Fernande split up and the artist eloped with his new love, Eva Gouel in the summer of 1912. On returning to Paris his dealer, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiller, found the young couple a new place to live in Montparnasse. Picasso , now a man of substance, lived in a fine neighborhood - (1912 -13) - 242 boulevard Raspail, (1913 - 16) 5 rue Schoelcher . In Montparnasse Picasso embarked on ground breaking Cubist collages and his reputation soared. Eva, however, suffered from bad health and died tragically at a young age. At this period the "Bande Picasso" split up as many were enlisted in the First World war. Picasso then met his wife to be, the Russian Ballerina Olga, and they lived for a while, in 1918, in the high status Hotel Lutetia, 45 boulevard Raspail. On the walk we can stop at "Le Dome" (108 boulevard du Montparnasse). It is a venue renowned for "serious drinking" - doubtless the "Bande Picasso" misbehaved themselves badly there!

WALK THREE - ETOILE QUARTER. When Picasso and his wife Olga moved to 23 rue La Boetie (1918 - 1942) it was THE PLACE to be in Paris. Later it would be eclipsed by the Champs Elysee but in 1918 the rich and chic lived there. Picasso had two apartments with his working apartment being one floor up. The Picasso's had a liveried chauffeur who drove them, at weekends, to their wonderful Chateau in the village of Boisgeloup. Picasso met Marie Therese and installed her, just down the road, at 44 rue de la Boetie. Picasso's marriage started to split up and he moved away from Olga to the Hotel California on the rue de Berri. Walk 3 takes us past numerous cafes and restaurants used by Picasso, his wife and their friends.

WALK FOUR - SAINT GERMAIN DE PRES : - When his marriage broke up the middle aged artist decided to live in a much less smart more bohemian neighborhood and moved to 7 rue des Grands Augustines (From 1937). Our walk definitely takes us to the cafe of Les Deux Maggots - a favorite place for me where I often meet my wife for a drink after a hard days art dealing. The rue de grands Augustines is just off the main drag which goes along the riverbank of the Seine and it was here that Picasso was photographed by Dora Maar as he painted his famous work "Guernica" . Dora did not live with Picasso and we will visit her apartment, round the corner at 6 rue de Savoie. The Second World War happened at this time and Picasso sat it out in Paris as Nazi troops occupied his city. After the war Picasso moved down to the South of France and, apart from a short term during the 1950's, Paris was no longer his home. The walk will take us past 19 Quai Saint-Michael where Henri Matisse lived and the splendid Monument to Guillaume Apolliniaire - a bust of Dora Maar - in the churchyard beside St Germain. We will pass Appolinaire's house at 202 boulevard St-Germain a few blocks away. We might finish the walk with a drink at the Cafe "La Pallette". This is a place much frequented today by art dealers such as myself being in the middle of the rue de Seinne where I go to buy works of art from the many dealers nearby.

Call me a romantic if you like but these walks will take me alongside most interesting places and show me the life more clearly of a man who has had huge influence on art and culture in the 20th century. I recommend this small book!

Who else might "walk the walk"?

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