Pablo Picasso’s last surviving daughter defends her late father’s relationship with a 17-year-old when he was 45 – and says his teenage lover was ‘not that underage’

Pablo Picasso’s daughter said her father is “uncancellable” despite a long history of “womanizing” and accusations of theft from African culture.

In a new interview with The Telegraph, Paloma Picasso, 75, the only surviving child of the influential artist, insisted that her father cannot be canceled despite some criticism now being leveled at him.

Paloma, a jewelry designer and businesswoman, spoke fondly of her late father, despite their fraught relationship that left them estranged at the time of his death in 1973.

Since Picasso’s death, there has been increasing criticism of the artist, who adored women and was thought to have a special interest in younger women.

Although critics have questioned whether Picasso was “toxic” after his treatment of women was labeled misogynistic, Paloma has vehemently defended him.

Recalling his relationship with French model Marie-Thérèse Walter, who was just 17 when she began an affair with the 45-year-old married artist, Paloma said, “17 isn’t that younger.”

Discussing whether she thought the cultural landscape would be “bleak” if artists’ private lives were overly interrogated, Paloma responded, “Yes! Marie-Thérèse (Walter) was 17, but she was an exception.’

‘It’s not like he only dated underage women. And 17 is not underage.”

The model was only 17 when she met Picasso in 1927 and was his lover for eight years. Marie-Thérèse was also the mother of the artist’s second-eldest child, the late Maya Widmaier-Picasso.

Paloma also said it was “a bit difficult” to blame men and that her father was a man of his generation – Picasso was born in 1881.

Paloma also acknowledged that her father loved women and made sure they were the center of his attention during his lifetime.

Born in 1949, Paloma is the daughter of Picasso and French artist Françoise Gilot, described as ‘the only woman who ran away’ from the Spaniard.

She is the last surviving child of the influential painter, who had a total of four children, Paulo Picasso, Maya Widmaier-Picasso and Claude Picasso, by three different women.

Discussing whether she thought the cultural landscape would be “bleak” if artists’ private lives were overly interrogated, Paloma responded, “Yes! Marie-Thérèse (Walter) was 17, that’s true, but she was an exception’

Picasso pictured with his wife Françoise in 1951. The jewelry designer also said it was “a bit difficult” to blame men and that her father was a man of his generation – Picasso was born in 1881

Paloma Picasso pictured next to her father’s work in 2023

But since her father died, Paloma has been defending his legacy against critics who claim the influential artist is “sexist.”

Paloma’s mother Françoise left Picasso in 1953, taking their two children with her, Paloma, who was four, and Claude, who was six.

Despite the schism in the family, Paloma said she maintained a positive relationship with her father, who would come to visit them in Paris.

The artist shut down Paloma and her full brother, Claude, after their mother wrote a book called Living with Picasso before his death in 1964.

Paloma started designing jewelry as a teenager and previously appeared on the face of Vogue.

In addition to her familial ties to Picasso, Paloma has mingled with artists throughout her life, having been the muse of Andy Warhol and Yves Saint Laurent in her 20s.

The 75-year-old now divides her time between Lausanne, Paris, Marrakech and New York.

But since her father died, Paloma has been defending his legacy against critics who claim the influential artist is “sexist.”

On the 50th anniversary of his death last year, The Guardian asked: ‘Is it time to mothball the master?’

One of Pablo’s most famous works, the Demoiselles d’Avignon, is an iconoclastic cubist study of five naked prostitutes from a Barcelona brothel.

It is now thought that while working on the painting, the artist and his longtime mistress Fernande Olivier briefly adopted a 13-year-old girl named Raymonde from an orphanage in Paris. Picasso ended up sketching with her legs spread.

“There is no evidence that Picasso ever abused Raymonde (who was later returned to the orphanage),” wrote Miles Unger, the artist’s biographer, “but it is clear that she aroused feelings in him that could have led to disaster . His attraction to adolescent girls, at least later in life, is well documented.”