Maya Ruiz-Picasso: Daughter of Pablo

Born on September 5, 1935, Maria de la Concepcion, nicknamed Maya, was Pablo Picasso’s first daughter. This book, exhibition catalog for the Picasso Museum in Paris, highlights the artist’s relationship with his child. Fascinated by his daughter, Picasso took her as a model from an early age. The drawings, paintings, and photographs of Maya reproduced in this book testify to the incredible source of inspiration that Maya was for her father. In addition to her portraits, the book presents drawings made in tandem by father and daughter, that merge the master’s line with that of his child, testifying to their bond.

The essays of this volume focus on Maya’s childhood years, between her birth and the end of the Nazi occupation of Paris when the great majority of the portraits were created - a period of almost incessant war in Europe and traumatic upheaval in Picasso’s personal life. Also, in a conversation between Maya Ruiz-Picasso and her daughter, Diana Widmaier-Picasso, Maya’s memories are revisited to create an intimate portrait of the artist.