When he wasn’t abusing the many women in his life, Pablo Picasso painted portraits of them that were to become some his most recognizable works. His attitudes towards the opposite sex were, to say the least, unenlightened, even for the period. He once describes women as “machines for suffering” (especially, it would seen, at his own hands); he also noted that they were either “goddesses or doormats,” and while his renderings of various wives and mistresses elevated them to the former, they more or less reverted to the latter once they left the studio. More than any other paintings by Picasso, these images raise the thorny issue of whether or not world-beating talent excuses awful behavior. Viewers, however, can judge for themselves by checking out these paintings, which still command your attention however problematic they may be.
