Portraits of Jacqueline Roque
Jacqueline Roque (February 24, 1927 – October 15, 1986) was the second wife of Pablo Picasso and his frequent model. Picasso spent the last 20 years of his life with Roque, during which time he created more than 400 portraits of her. They had no children.
Roque was married previously; her first marriage she had a daughter, Catherine Hutin-Blay. Before meeting Picasso, she was a saleswoman at Madoura Pottery in Vallauris, Picasso's ceramic works were created. After Pablo Picasso separated Françoise Gilot, they began their relationship.
They married in Vallauris on 2 March 1961.
Roque's image began to appear in Picasso's paintings in May 1954. These portraits are characterized by an exaggerated neck and feline face, distortions of Roque's features. Eventually her dark eyes and eyebrows, high cheekbones, and classical profile would become familiar symbols in his late paintings. It is likely that Picasso's series of paintings derived Eugène Delacroix's The Women of Algiers was inspired by Roque's beauty; the artist commented that "Delacroix had already met Jacqueline." In 1955 he drew Jacqueline as "Lola de Valence", a reference to Edouard Manet's painting of the Spanish dancer. In 1963 he painted her portrait 160 times, and continued to paint her, in increasingly abstracted forms, until 1972.
After Picasso's death in 1973, Roque fought with his children over the distribution of the artist's estate, and agreed to establish the Musée Picasso in Madrid.
Jacqueline Roque killed herself with a gun 13 years after the death of Picasso in Mougins.
Art
