Francois Gilot, painter who became more widely known as Picasso’s muse, has died at the age of 101, hospitalized in a Manhattan hospital

Her death was confirmed to The New York Times by her daughter who said the French artist had been battling heart and lung ailments.

Her career was overshadowed by the romance she had with the painter.

The French painter Françoise Gilot was Pablo Picasso’s partner for more than a decade.

But at the same time, she was the only woman who left him.

“Do you think people will care about you?” Picasso seems to have told her when he told him to break up

“They’ll never, really only care about you. Even if you think people like you, it’s just a kind of curiosity they have about a person whose life touched mine so closely.”

She rebuilt her life after their relationship ended in 1953.

She continued to paint, exhibit her works and wrote books.

Zilot, the scion of a wealthy family, met Picasso in a French restaurant when she was only 21 years old.

They stayed together for 10 years and had two children Paloma and Claude.

“He discovered her when she was only 22 years old. Zillo seduced Picasso with the vigor of youth, but also the spark of her spirit. Pure and virgin, she was a blank canvas for him.”

Writer Malte Hervig describes their first meeting with these words.

Speaking about their relationship, the artist had said that Picasso was a volcanic force of nature, “That’s how we gave birth to our two children, Paloma, who is a famous designer. And Claude, who is their father’s spit.”

New York Times