After directing the Picasso Estate for 34 years, the family joint ownership which manages the rights of the Spanish painter, Claude Ruiz Picasso, aged 76, gives way to his sister, Paloma Ruiz Picasso (74).
Born April 19, 1949, daughter of Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) and French artist Françoise Gilot (1921 – 2023), Paloma Ruiz Picasso was Yves Saint Laurent’s muse before creating her own perfume brand with the L’Oréal group, as well as a line of evening dresses. Since the 1980s, she has designed jewelry for Tiffany & Co.
Several times taken as a model by her father when she was a child, she remained with her mother after her parents separated in 1952. Picasso broke off all contact with her children after the publication in 1964 of the book by Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, Living with Picassowhich he tried to have banned.
Appointed as administrator of the Picasso Estate by the president of the tribunal de grande instance, the fashion designer is one of the painter’s seven heirs, alongside her brother Claude and five grandchildren, Marina and Bernard (children of Paulo, who died in 1975), Olivier, Diana and Richard (children of Maya, who died in December 2022).
The Succession Picasso holds the monopoly of copyright (moral and patrimonial) and trademark rights, as well as derivative rights, managed through a company, Picasso Administration, created in 1995. It is the Succession Picasso that issues certificates of authentication of Picasso’s works and fights against counterfeits. The most publicized case was that brought against Pierre Le Guennec, a former electrician, who claimed to have received 271 drawings by the artist from Jacqueline, Picasso’s last wife. After a nine-year procedure, the former electrician and his wife – defended by Éric Dupond-Moretti – were sentenced for receiving a two-year suspended sentence in 2019.
