Walter MarieThrse

French model and lover of Pablo Picasso from 1927 to about 1935 and the mother of their daughter Maya Widmaier-Picasso. She was his muse for both paintings and sculptures ranging from The Red Armchair (1931) to Marie-Thérèse Leaning on One Elbow (1939). Their relationship began when she was seventeen years old; he was 45 and still living with his first wife, Olga Khokhlova. It ended when Picasso moved on to his next relationship, with artist Dora Maar. Walter and Maar appear as if in battle at opposite ends of the composition of Guernica. Whereas Picasso portrayed Dora Maar in his works of art as dark and in pain, as The Weeping Woman, he painted Walter as just the opposite, blonde and bright. On 20 October 1977, four years after Picassos death, Walter died by suicide at age 68 in Juan-les-Pins, South of France. Her daughter Maya had three children. One of Mayas sons, Olivier Widmaier Picasso, published a biography of his famous grandfather entitled Picasso: The Real Family Story. Mayas daughter, Diana Widmaier Picasso, is currently working on a catalogue raisonné of her grandfathers sculptures. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less