Biography of Eva Gouel, Pablo Picassos Mistress

Eva Goeul (1885–December 14, 1915) was Pablo Picassos lover during his Cubist collage period in the early 1910s, one of several influential and romantic partners in Picassos life. She inspired a few of his most famous pieces of art, including Woman with a Guitar, which is also known as Ma Jolie (1912). Fast Facts: Eva Gouel Known For: Muse and mistress of Pablo Picasso, 1911–1915Born: 1885 in Vincennes, FranceParents: Adrian Gouel and Marie-Louise Ghà ©rouzeDied: December 14, 1915 in ParisEducation: unknownSpouse: noneChildren: none Early Life Eva Gouel was born Eve Gouel  sometime in 1885 to Adrian Gouel and Marie-Louise Ghà ©rouze of Vincennes, France. At some point, she adopted the name Marcelle Humbert and claimed to have been married to a fellow named Humbert, but that doesnt seem to have been the case. Like most of the women Picasso met at this time—indeed, like many people in the late Belle Epoque (1871–1914) of Paris—Eva kept her background purposefully mysterious, going by different names that came from various sources. In the correspondence of Picassos friends at the time of their alliance, Eva was considered both sweet and calculating, described as a small spicy girl who looked like a Chinese doll by Italian painter Gino Severini (1893–1966). Meeting Picasso Picasso met Gouel in 1911 at the cafe Ermitage in Paris, when she was going by the name of Marcelle Humbert. She was living with the Jewish-Polish artist Lodwicz Casimir Ladislas Markus (1870–1941), a satirist and minor Cubist better known as Louis Marcoussis. At the time, Picasso had been living with his first muse, Fernande Olivier, since 1904. He was diligently absorbed in studies developing Cubism with painter Georges Braque, and Fernande was hotly jealous of that absorption. Fernande and Picasso often went to the Paris cafes with Marcelle and Louis. On a number of occasions, they were all invited to the home of writer Gertrude Stein on the rue de Fleurus, a popular place for artists and writers in Paris at the time. Stein and Picasso were close friends, but she and her longtime partner Alice B. Toklas didnt spot the relationship between Picasso and Gouel until February 1912. Fernande and Marcelle became fast friends: Fernande confided her miseries to Marcelle, including her unhappiness with Picasso. In 1911, Fernande began an affair with the young Italian Futurist Ubaldo Oppi (1889–1942). She asked Marcelle to cover for her in order to deceive Picasso, but it was a mistake. Instead, Marcelle began a clandestine affair with Picasso herself. Picassos Eve Picasso began his affair with Marcelle—now going by Eva Gouel at Picassos request—in late 1911. He began adding coded messages into his works, using allegorical imagery like bowls of peaches (thats Eva) and jugs with large spouts (thats Pablo). He also added written phrases like Jaime Eva (I love Eva) and Ma Jolie (My pretty one) as elements of the paintings. The famous Woman with a Guitar, the artists first work in Analytical Cubism, painted between 1911 and 1912, contains Ma Jolie, a nickname he gave to Eva after a popular song at the time. Picasso asked Marcelle Humbert to return to a version of her birth name, in part because he wanted to distinguish this mistress from the wife of his friend and fellow Cubist George Braque, also named Marcelle. He transformed Eve into the more Spanish-sounding Eva, and, to Picassos mind, he was the Adam to her Eve. Fernande On May 18, 1912, Picasso told Fernande that he had discovered her affair with Oppi and was leaving her for Eva. He moved out of her apartment, fired the maid, and pulled his financial support of her; Eva moved out of her flat with Louis Marcoussis, and the new pair left Paris for Cà ©ret in southern France. In June 1912, Picasso wrote to his friend and art collector Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, I love [Eva] very much and I will write this in my paintings. Horrified, Fernande left the penniless Oppi and decided to seek out Picasso to rekindle their relationship—or so Picasso feared. Tucked away from the frantic Paris lifestyle in Cà ©ret, close to the Spanish border, Picasso and Eva got wind of Fernandes impending visit. They quickly packed and left instructions not to let anyone know of their whereabouts. They headed for Avignon and then met Braque and his wife in Sorgues later that summer. Death In 1913, Picasso and Gouel visited Picassos family in Barcelona, Spain, and talked about marriage. But Picassos father died May 3, 1913, and that same year, Eva either contracted tuberculosis or developed cancer. By 1915, she had spent weeks in the hospital. Picasso wrote Gertrude Stein describing his life as hell. Eva died in Paris on December 14, 1915. Picasso would live until 1973 and have dozens of affairs, a handful of which were well-known relationships with women, all of whom affected his art and life. Known Examples of Eva in Picassos Art Picassos period of  Cubist collages  and papier collà © flourished during his affair with Eva Gouel; he also took two photographs of her. A number of his works during this time are either known or thought to be of Eva, the best-known of which are: Woman with a Guitar (Ma Jolie), 1912.Woman in an Armchair, 1913, Collection Sally Ganz, New YorkSeated Woman (Eva) Wearing a Hat Trimmed with a White Bird, 1915-16, private collection.Eva on Her Deathbed, 1915, pencil drawing, private collection Sources McAuliffe, Mary. Twilight of the Belle Epoque: The Paris of Picasso, Stravinsky, Proust, Renault, Marie Curie, Gertrude Stein, and Their Friends through the Great War. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman Littlefield, 2014.Otterstein, Pola. Pablo Picasso And His Women. Daily Art Magazine, November 28, 2017.Richardson, John. A Life of Picasso: the Cubist Rebel, 1907–1916.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, New York.  Tucker, Paul Hayes. Picasso, Photography, and the Development of Cubism. The Art Bulletin 64.2 (1982): 288-99. Williams, Ellen. Picassos Paris: Walking Tours of the Artists Life in the City. New York: The Little Bookroom, 1999.