The women in Picasso’s life
Aisling Franciosi and Clemence Poesy discuss portraying the artist’s former lovers in ‘Genius’ Don’t miss it!
Fernande Olivier stands out from Pablo Picasso’s former lovers — she was his first muse, and the only one to know him before the fame and fortune.
Olivier, who wrote a published journal chronicling her chaotic time with the Spanish painter, will be brought to the small screen by Aisling Franciosi (Game of Thrones, The Fall) in the National Geographic series, Genius: Picasso.
“I think she’s quite incredible because she had a pretty rough start in life. She was born out of wedlock and then given to a family member to be brought up. It was a pretty loveless household for her, abusive, and then when she was 17, she was raped and they made her marry her rapist,” said Franciosi.
The Irish-Italian actress delved deep into Olivier’s written works to prepare for the role. She called Olivier and Picasso’s relationship “pretty tempestuous.
“But it’s interesting, in her diary, she does talk about him kind of being quite a gentle lover, even though they did sometimes have these arguments that descended into probably pretty abusive behaviour,” said Franciosi. “I guess she saw his more vulnerable side and also the darker sides of him where he was really quite possessive and jealous.”
But the actress felt it important to point out: geniuses were not necessarily good people. “I don’t Gilot) with Antonio Fernande Olivier.
“I guess [Olivier] saw [Picasso’s] more vulnerable side and also the darker sides of him where he was possessive.”
| Actress who plays Olivier think that you have to be a great person to create great art. Because I don’t think we’d have very much good art, if that was the case,” she said.
Actress Clemence Poesy (Harry Potter, War and Peace) will portray another one of Picasso’s lovers from his later years, French artist Francoise Gilot. Gilot is still alive at
96. She wrote Life with Picasso in 1964, providing a valuable resource for Poesy, who did not have the chance to meet her.
Poesy echoed Franciosi’s sentiments, saying: “Because they call the series Genius, I think it will be really interesting to see if they find a genius that was lovely to everyone around her or him.”