1939-1932
He meets Marie-Therese Walter, a young women who would inspire numerous portraits as well as large sculptured heads. Picasso sets up his studio in the annexes of the chateau Boisgeloup, a mansion lying a few miles outside of Paris.
1932-1935
Picasso travels, exhibits in several cities, writes and publishes poetry. His friend Jaime Sabartes becomes his secretary. Marie-Therese gives birth to a daughter, Maya.
1936
Outbreak of Civil war in Spain. Opposed to Fascism, Picasso supports the Republican cause. He is named Director of the Prado Museum in Madrid and becomes intimate with a young painter and photographer, Dora Maar.
1937
He executes the very large canvas “Guernica”, considered to be one of the masterpieces of 20th century art, and unveils it at the Universal Exposition in Paris. His new studio is found on the rue des Grands-Augustins in Paris; it is here that Picasso would work and live, alone, throughout the Second World War.
1947
Birth of a daughter, Paloma, second child with Francoise Gilot.
1952
He paints two enormous panels, War and Peace, subsequently hung in the chapel of Vallauris.
1955-1960
Picasso buys a villa, La Californie, on the Mediterranean coast of France near Cannes. He settles there with Jacqueline Roque, who would become the painters last wife in 1958. Picasso works diligently on “series” paintings and drawings, free variations inspired by the work of other artists, for instance, “The Women of Algiers” after Delacroix, “Las Meninas” (”The Maids of Honor) after Velasquez, or the “Dejeuner sur l’herbe” after Manet.
1961
Picasso settles in Mougins, near Cannes. The painter is honoured the world over on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
1963
He executes the very important series of works known as the “Painter and His Model”.
1964-1971
Major exhibits of Picasso’s work become more frequent. As for the Spanish master himself, Picasso worked almost without pause until death at 91.
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