Françoise Gilot's (born 1921) "French years" reveal an oeuvre that remains too little known, especially in France: after all, Gilot had dared to leave Picasso, who had instructed galleries and critics to reject her, and had told the story of her life with him in a bestselling volume, and had migrated to the US. Published for the artist's 100th birthday, this book attempts to correct this deliberate eclipse of her accomplishment as a painter.
"I don't paint what I see but rather what concerns me" whether in painting, drawing or engraving, in her still lifes or in her portraits of Picasso and her children, in her choice of figurative art or abstraction, this dictum holds true. Throughout these shifts, an aptitude for pure, brilliant color would become her trademark, as in the Labyrinth Series, in which Theseus, her mythical alter ego, loses his bearings in order to find himself. Containing more than 90 color images of her paintings and drawings, this hardcover book gives a complete overview of this formative moment in her career.