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Hidden Portraits: Six Women Who Shaped Picasso's Life
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Private Lives of the Impressionists comes the first account of the women who loved Picasso—and who shaped his work far more than previously acknowledged.
Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot, and Jacqueline Roque. These six extraordinary women shared Pablo Picasso’s life and were instrumental in his career, yet they have long been dismissed as simply passive models or muses.
In Hidden Portraits, acclaimed author Sue Roe reveals that their lives were—without exception—remarkable. They each pursued their own ambitions in dance, writing, painting, and more. All six overcame significant challenges, including Picasso’s subterfuges and betrayals as well as the wider social turbulence of their time. In bringing them to vivid life, Roe traces the extent to which each influenced Picasso’s work, from his sketches to masterpieces like Guernica. Spanning seventy years, from bohemian early-twentieth-century Montmartre to the glittering Riviera in the 1920s, and from Paris under Nazi occupation to Picasso’s death, and beyond, Hidden Portraits reclaims a set of brilliant women and in the process rewrites a vital chapter in the history of modern art.
Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot, and Jacqueline Roque. These six extraordinary women shared Pablo Picasso’s life and were instrumental in his career, yet they have long been dismissed as simply passive models or muses.
In Hidden Portraits, acclaimed author Sue Roe reveals that their lives were—without exception—remarkable. They each pursued their own ambitions in dance, writing, painting, and more. All six overcame significant challenges, including Picasso’s subterfuges and betrayals as well as the wider social turbulence of their time. In bringing them to vivid life, Roe traces the extent to which each influenced Picasso’s work, from his sketches to masterpieces like Guernica. Spanning seventy years, from bohemian early-twentieth-century Montmartre to the glittering Riviera in the 1920s, and from Paris under Nazi occupation to Picasso’s death, and beyond, Hidden Portraits reclaims a set of brilliant women and in the process rewrites a vital chapter in the history of modern art.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published November 18, 2025
19 people are currently reading
4496 people want to read
About the author
Sue Roe
17 books66 followersSue Roe is an acclaimed biographer and poet with a strong interest in the visual arts. Her first biography, Gwen John : A Life (Chatto & Windus, 2001), reveals that the painter best known for her quiet, restrained portraits of women was surprisingly ardent and exuberant. The Private Lives of the Impressionists (Chatto & Windus, 2006) shows how daring the early Impressionsts seemed by the standards of their own times. In Montmartre (Penguin, 2014) illuminates Picasso’s early years in Paris, when suddenly all the arts (painting, writing, film, dance) seemed to be happening in parallel.
Sue Roe’s early scholarship was on Virginia Woolf, the subject of her PhD, and she has published a number of articles on Woolf. Her critical book, Writing and Gender: Virginia Woolf’s Writing Practice (Harvester/Wheatsheaf, 1990) explores Woolf’s processes of composition. She is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Virginia Woolf (Cambridge University Press, 2000) and editor of the Penguin Modern Classics edition of Jacob’s Room. Her teaching is inspired by her scholarship and her editorial experience. She has taught BA, MA and PhD students at various universities, and before that worked as a Commissioning Editor for two academic publishing houses.
These days she divides her time between research for her books, which includes exploring the galleries of Paris as well as copious reading, and writing. She likes to work with a good view of the colourful garden her partner Steve has created while she drafts – and re-drafts – her work.
Sue Roe’s early scholarship was on Virginia Woolf, the subject of her PhD, and she has published a number of articles on Woolf. Her critical book, Writing and Gender: Virginia Woolf’s Writing Practice (Harvester/Wheatsheaf, 1990) explores Woolf’s processes of composition. She is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Virginia Woolf (Cambridge University Press, 2000) and editor of the Penguin Modern Classics edition of Jacob’s Room. Her teaching is inspired by her scholarship and her editorial experience. She has taught BA, MA and PhD students at various universities, and before that worked as a Commissioning Editor for two academic publishing houses.
These days she divides her time between research for her books, which includes exploring the galleries of Paris as well as copious reading, and writing. She likes to work with a good view of the colourful garden her partner Steve has created while she drafts – and re-drafts – her work.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Want to read
November 21, 2025Not yet published • Expected 18 Nov 25
August 7, 2025
So many questions....😶🌫️
February 16, 2026
During his lifetime, Pablo Picasso was often photographed in company with a series of women who served the roles of muse, model, lover, companion, and some of them as the mothers of his children.
When Picasso tired of them, they were abandoned, sometimes cruelly, though he usually provided them with a house or means of income.
We recognized them in the portraits and other artistic representations he created of them, while knowing little about them--save for the few who later wrote about their lives with him.
Now Sue Roe has provided a glimpse into the lives of these remarkable women who not only served the needs of this artistic genius but also inspired and influenced him.
Roe brings them vividly to life, tracing their backgrounds, their experiences with Picasso, their own careers, and the challenges they faced. Roe provides evidence of the influence each had on the various periods of Picasso's work. All of them had talents and careers of their own.
Fernande Olivier, abandoned by her mother at birth, was already in demand as a model and had fled an abusive marriage when Picasso met her. Under his guidance, she also became a painter and helped him find dealers for his work. Fernande eked out a living as a teacher of French and penned a memoir of her life with Picasso before dying in 1966.
When Picasso took the ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova to meet his mother in Barcelona, her future mother-in-law warned against marrying her son. "He's available for himself but no one else." Olga failed to heed that advice, and they married in 1918. The marriage produced a son, but by 1925, Picasso was looking elsewhere.
Marie-Theresa Walter was 17, and Picasso was 45 when they met. She had never heard of him or had any knowledge of art, but she succumbed to his charm. She gave him a daughter. Long after he abandoned her for Dora Maar, Marie-Therese maintained hope he would marry her one day. It was not to be. Dora was a professional photographer and became a respected painter.
Françoise Gilot, another young artist who benefited from his tutelage, made Picasso a father again at the age of 68. She married twice after leaving Picasso (the second time to the scientist Jonas Salk) and may have been the most successful of his painter wives. Jacqueline Roque was the devoted protector of his privacy in the last years of his life.
To me, the major fault with this otherwise excellent biographical work is the lack of illustrations to support the descriptions of the art Picasso was inspired to create by these remarkable women.
When Picasso tired of them, they were abandoned, sometimes cruelly, though he usually provided them with a house or means of income.
We recognized them in the portraits and other artistic representations he created of them, while knowing little about them--save for the few who later wrote about their lives with him.
Now Sue Roe has provided a glimpse into the lives of these remarkable women who not only served the needs of this artistic genius but also inspired and influenced him.
Roe brings them vividly to life, tracing their backgrounds, their experiences with Picasso, their own careers, and the challenges they faced. Roe provides evidence of the influence each had on the various periods of Picasso's work. All of them had talents and careers of their own.
Fernande Olivier, abandoned by her mother at birth, was already in demand as a model and had fled an abusive marriage when Picasso met her. Under his guidance, she also became a painter and helped him find dealers for his work. Fernande eked out a living as a teacher of French and penned a memoir of her life with Picasso before dying in 1966.
When Picasso took the ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova to meet his mother in Barcelona, her future mother-in-law warned against marrying her son. "He's available for himself but no one else." Olga failed to heed that advice, and they married in 1918. The marriage produced a son, but by 1925, Picasso was looking elsewhere.
Marie-Theresa Walter was 17, and Picasso was 45 when they met. She had never heard of him or had any knowledge of art, but she succumbed to his charm. She gave him a daughter. Long after he abandoned her for Dora Maar, Marie-Therese maintained hope he would marry her one day. It was not to be. Dora was a professional photographer and became a respected painter.
Françoise Gilot, another young artist who benefited from his tutelage, made Picasso a father again at the age of 68. She married twice after leaving Picasso (the second time to the scientist Jonas Salk) and may have been the most successful of his painter wives. Jacqueline Roque was the devoted protector of his privacy in the last years of his life.
To me, the major fault with this otherwise excellent biographical work is the lack of illustrations to support the descriptions of the art Picasso was inspired to create by these remarkable women.
September 9, 2025
(I got my copy from the library in September 2025 - so published??)
A tough one to review. I acknowledge the research and effort gone into the book, and was I was interested to find out more about the women 'behind' Picasso.
I understand there are only so many resources to draw on, and some partners are better depicted than others (eg Francoise moreso than Olga).
I would have liked to have seen a little more comment or insight from Roe as to the women - she glosses over their choices/life, almost afraid to commit a thought. Although she does defend his last wife, saying she was too maligned. (True, Picasso could have written a will). I came away not really feeling like I knew more about these women, as Roe focuses most of her writing on their time with Picasso. 'Life after' Peters out - they existed separately to him.
Why did he 'choose' them? How did he 'use' them? 2 of them took their lives. He was SO interested in himself and his past, ooof.
Roe does mention 'the times' but I would have liked a bit more focus on this too, to give context as to what 'choices' the women had (or didn't).
As one other reviewer said 'so many questions....'
A tough one to review. I acknowledge the research and effort gone into the book, and was I was interested to find out more about the women 'behind' Picasso.
I understand there are only so many resources to draw on, and some partners are better depicted than others (eg Francoise moreso than Olga).
I would have liked to have seen a little more comment or insight from Roe as to the women - she glosses over their choices/life, almost afraid to commit a thought. Although she does defend his last wife, saying she was too maligned. (True, Picasso could have written a will). I came away not really feeling like I knew more about these women, as Roe focuses most of her writing on their time with Picasso. 'Life after' Peters out - they existed separately to him.
Why did he 'choose' them? How did he 'use' them? 2 of them took their lives. He was SO interested in himself and his past, ooof.
Roe does mention 'the times' but I would have liked a bit more focus on this too, to give context as to what 'choices' the women had (or didn't).
As one other reviewer said 'so many questions....'
February 14, 2026
A kaleidoscope of liaisons, women who fell for the mystic charm of a passionate and egotistical mind of the artistic genius. To me this has been rather an accompaniment to the Francioise Gilot’s memoir.
Certain anecdotes about the dense intellectual network that enabled the connections has been interesting to learn about (like the one about titans like Cocteau, Satie and Picasso joining to produce Diaghilev’s production.
Certain anecdotes about the dense intellectual network that enabled the connections has been interesting to learn about (like the one about titans like Cocteau, Satie and Picasso joining to produce Diaghilev’s production.
December 3, 2025
Hidden Portraits tell of the lives of six women and their relationship with Picasso. It also delves into a little of the restrictions and hardship of women during this time. Moves and homes of Picasso and each woman during and after their relationships ended but touched little on the time of war. I received this book from Goodreads for a fair and honest review.
August 16, 2025
Well researched. Detailed but not tedious. Arranged chronologically. It's difficult to address the women in Picasso's life without Picasso intruding on the narrative. Sue Roe did a masterful job keeping him in the narrative but under control.
November 30, 2025
Thank you to goodreads, the publisher & author for this ARC! I was very interested in getting to know these women and I certainly did. I also appreciated the art analysis of the particular paintings the women were featured in
April 21, 2025
Picasso looms large. A lot of what happened; not a lot of why.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews