Françoise Gilot (born November 26, 1921) is a French painter and bestselling author. She is also known as the lover and artistic muse of Pablo Picasso from 1944 to 1953, and the mother of his children, Claude Picasso and Paloma Picasso. She later married the American vaccine pioneer, Jonas Salk.
Gilot was more than just Picasso's lover: she was a mother, organizer,
muse, conversation partner, hostess, artist, and an art critic.
In 1973 Gilot was appointed as the Art Director of the scholarly
journal "Virginia Woolf Quarterly." In 1976 she was made a member of the
board of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Southern
California. She held summer courses there and took on organizational
responsibilities until 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s she designed
costumes, stage sets, and masks for productions at the Guggenheim in
New York. She was awarded a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, in 1990.
At 21, Gilot met Pablo Picasso, then 61. Picasso first saw Gilot in a restaurant in the spring of 1943. His mistress, Dora Maar,
was devastated to learn that Picasso was replacing her with the much
younger artist. After Picasso's and Gilot's meeting she moved in with
him in 1946 and they spent almost ten years together. Those years
revolved around art, but it is believed by some art historians that
Gilot's relationship with Picasso is what cut short her artistic career.
Picasso and Gilot never married, but they did have two children
together. Their son, Claude, was born in 1947 and their daughter,
Paloma, was born in 1949.
During their ten years together Gilot was often harassed on the streets
of Paris by Picasso's legal wife, a Russian ballet dancer. Eleven years after their separation, Gilot wrote Life with Picasso,
a book that sold over one million copies in dozens of languages,
despite an unsuccessful legal challenge from Picasso attempting to stop
its publication.Francoise Gilot was introduced to art at a young age by he mother and grandmother. Her grandmother had held a party when Francoise was about five years old. A certain man caught Gilot's eye as being interesting and asked her grandmother who the man was. It turned out to be a painter, Emile Mairet.
Gilot's father became close friends with the painter and Francoise would often tag along to visit his studio. At age six Francoise's mother began teaching her art with the exception
of drawing. Her mother believed artists become too dependent on erasers
and instead taught Francoise in watercolor and india ink. If she made a
mistake she would have to make it intentional to her work. By the age
of thirteen she began being tutored by Mlle Meuge and continued for six
years.
At the age of fourteen she was introduced to ceramics, and another year
later she studied with the Post-Impressionist, Jacques Beurdeley.Finally, at the age of 21 she met Picasso. 
Although Picasso had influenced Francoise Gilot's work as a cubist painter, she developed her own style. She avoided the sharp edges and angular forms that Picasso used. Instead, she used organic figures. During the war, Gilot's father attempted to save the most valuable household belongings by moving them, but the truck was bombed by the Germans, including Gilot's drawings and watercolors
Gilot married the artist Luc Simon in 1955.The couple divorced in 1962. They had a daughter, Aurelia.
In 1969, Gilot was introduced to Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine pioneer,at the home of mutual friends in La Jolla, California. Their shared appreciation of architecture led to a brief courtship and they were married in 1970 in Paris. They remained married until Salk's death in 1995. During her marriage, she continued painting in New York, La Jolla, and Paris.
Gilot lives in New York City and Paris, working on behalf of the Salk Institute in California, and continues to exhibit her work internationally
