Fernande Olivier / Picasso and his friends

by Fernande Olivier / Fernande Olivier and Pablo Picasso were barely forty together when they met at the beginning of the 20th century. Life lay ahead of them full of promise, and the common path was rich in external experiences and significant for the inner development of the artist. 'La belle Fernande', the first woman to count in Picasso's life, captured the memory of this golden age in her spirited notes. It shows us the artist in his early days in Paris, from his 'Blue and Pink' period to the birth of Cubism. As a fine observer, she describes his character and his way of life. Delicious episodes and exciting encounters stand out against the background of the artist city of Paris, for example with his friends Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire with Rousseau, Marie Laurencin and Van Dongen, with Gertrud Stein and Vollard, to select just a few examples from the abundance. Even if a bitter word is spoken, the memories are permeated and carried by Fernande Olivier's great love and admiration for his friend and artist Picasso. The notes, which also retain their freshness and immediacy in the translation, have been enriched with numerous documents, some of which have never been published before. / 176 pages