Painter’s Love palace unsealed
Hot spot
The French chateau where Picasso lived and now lies buried with his ‘green-eyed beauty’ has opened to the public, writes Matthew Campbell.
The dining room smells strongly of wood smoke. Drops of paint cover the floor upstairs. Pablo Picasso’s spirit haunts the imposing fortress in whose grounds he is buried with Jacqueline, his last love.
Vauvenargues chateau in southern France has opened to the public for the first time, offering a rare glimpse into the home of one of the greatest figures of 20th-century art.
The red-shuttered chateau is where Picasso lived with his second wife from 1959 to 1961 and where he created some of the greatest work of his later years.
Much to the excitement of Picasso fans, the house — abandoned by Jacqueline and Catherine, her daughter, to caretakers after the artist’s death in 1973 — is just as they left it, giving it the uncanny air of a time capsule.
In a sparsely decorated bedroom, a 1950s telephone sits on the bedside table. On the floor is a giant, Swiss cowbell.
“Each morning, Picasso, already in his late 70s when he moved into the chateau, would see if he still had the strength to lift it.”