Paloma Ruiz Picasso

Paloma Picasso (born Anne Paloma Ruiz-Picasso y Gilot on 19 April 1949) is a French jewelry designer and businesswoman. She is best known for her collaboration with Tiffany & Co and her signature perfumes.

The daughter of artists Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot, she is represented in many of her father's works, such as Paloma with an Orange and Paloma in Blue. She is also represented in her mother's work, "Paloma à la Guitare" (1965), which sold for $1.3 million in 2021.

Picasso is renowned for being among the most stylish ladies in the world. She was a muse to fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, and Vanity Fair has inducted her into the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List. An award-winning designer, her work is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History.

Early life Paloma Picasso was born in Paris to artists Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot on April 19, 1949. Her name, Paloma (Dove), is associated with the symbol her father designed for the World Peace Council's World Congress of Partisans for Peace, held in Paris at the time of Paloma's birth, and it can be found in many of her father's works.

Picasso spent her childhood in Paris and the South of France, where she and her older brother Claude Picasso were immersed in the vibrant culture and intellectual zeitgeist. She took an interest in drawing as a child, "but, as I grew up I started feeling the weight of my heritage," she said.

Picasso had a half-brother, Paulo Picasso (1921–1975), and a half-sister, Maya Picasso (1935–2022), from her father. She has another half-sister, Aurelia (b. 1956), from her mother's marriage to artist Luc Simon.

Career After attending the Université Paris Nanterre, Picasso worked as a costume designer for the Folies Bergère in Paris.

Some rhinestone necklaces she had created from stones purchased at flea markets drew attention from critics. Encouraged by this early success, the designer pursued formal schooling in jewelry design. A year later, Picasso presented her first efforts to her friend, fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, who immediately commissioned her to design accessories to accompany one of his collections. Her vintage 1940s style inspired Yves Saint Laurent's 1971 Scandal collection. Through him she became part of artist Andy Warhol's social circle.

In 1979, Picasso began working for the Greek jewelry company Zolotas. In the New York Post Picasso described it as intended for "strong women like herself." A cosmetics and bath line including body lotion, powder, shower gel, and soap were produced in the same year.thumb Logo for Paloma Picassos parfums.Two American museums have acquired Picasso's work for their permanent collections. Housed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History is a 396.30-carat kunzite necklace designed by her. And visitors to The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago can view her 408.63-carat moonstone bracelet accented with diamond "lightning bolts."

Picasso has a penchant for red which started at an early age. Her red lipsticks were called "her calling cards." "Red lips have become my signature, so when I don’t want to be recognized, I don’t wear it," she said In 1970, Picasso and Claude filed a lawsuit in France to be acknowledged as their father's legal children and hence heirs. After a lengthy legal battle, a French court ruled that they were heirs to the Picasso estate in 1974.

In 1978, Picasso married Argentine playwright and director Rafael Lopez-Cambil (also known as Rafael Lopez-Sanchez) in a black-and-white themed wedding. Picasso described Lopez-Cambil as the "architect" of her career, and she gave him a half share of her business in 1994. After splitting up in 1995, Lopez-Cambil filed a lawsuit against Picasso in the United States in a dispute over the business in 1997, but ten months later, he withdrew the claim.

In 1999, Picasso married Eric Thévenet, a doctor of osteopathic medicine. They have homes in Lausanne, Switzerland and Marrakesh, Morocco. Her kunzite necklace is kept at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., and a moonstone bracelet adorned with diamond "lightning bolts" is kept in the permanent collection of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

In 1988, Picasso was honored by the Fashion Group International for her contribution to the industry.

In 1988, the Hispanic Designers Inc. presented Picasso with its MODA award for excellence in design at the fourth annual Hispanics Designers Gala Fashion Show and Benefit.

In 2011, Picasso was honored with an exhibition of her work at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.