Picasso

1941 :
- Picasso writes a play “Le désir attrapé pa la queue” (Desire Caught by the Tail).
- Marie-Therese moves to bld Henry IV with Maya. 
- Sculpture: “Head of Dora Maar” in bronze (installed in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés square in 1959).

1942 :
- Death of his sculptor friend Julio Gonzalez on March 27. 
- Vlaminck writes a virulent article against Picasso in Comoedia. Picasso in then supported by young painters and by Resistance members. 

1943 :
- Picasso meets Françoise Gilot

1944 :
- Death of Max Jacob.
- Camus, Sartre, Beauvoir, Dora Maar and Leiris and his wife stage Picasso’s play “Le désir attrapé par la queue”. 
- August 25: Liberation of Paris.
- Picasso receives many American and English soldiers in this studio rue des Grands-Augustins. 
- Joins the French Communist Party.
- In October, shows at the Autumn Salon for the first time with 74 painting and sculptures.
 
   
1945 :
- Resumes work on lithography in Mourlot’s studio with “Head of Francoise”.
- Joint Picasso and Matisse exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
- Eluard’s poems “To Pablo Picasso” and René Char’s “le Marteau sans Maître”.
- Drop curtain for “Rendez-vous” ballet by Petit after Prévert. 

1946 :
- Major retrospective at the MoMA in New York. 
- Françoise becomes the “Woman-Flower”.
- They spend the summer in Ménerbes then Antibes and Golfe-Juan, after the summer, the Grimaldi Castle in Antibes in Antibes becomes his studio. 
- Works on plywood and wallboard panel.
- His new surroundings inspire him Mediterranean and mythological subjects. Founs, centaurs, musicians dance bacchanalias. It is “THE JOY OF LIFE”. 
- Gertrude Stein, one of his first art dealers and first Cubist portrait, dies. 
- Takes part in the “Art and Resistance” exhibition at the MNAM in Paris.
- Publication of “Portraits et Souvenirs” by Sabartès. 
- Following a first visit to the Madoura pottery, he makes many drawings for ceramics which he will try to make in terracotta the following year. 
 

1947 :
- May 15: Birth of Claude, his second son.
- Installation at the Madoura pottery in Vallauris and beginning of new activity as ceramist.
- Death of art dealer Leonce Rosenberg.
- Décor for Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.
 

1948 :
- Shooting of documentary “Visit to Picasso” by Haesaerts in Vallauris and Antibes.
- Illustrations for Pierre Reverdy’s “Le Chant des Morts”.  
- Pablo, Françoise et Claude move into the Villa La Gauloise in Vallauris. 
- Picasso goes to the Congress of Intellectuals for Peace in Wroclaw, Poland visits Krakow, Warsaw, and Auschwitz. Militates for Pablo Neruda’s freedom, persecuted in Chile. 
- A first major exhibition of his ceramics is organized at the Maison de la Penszée française in Paris. 
- Publication of Gongora’s Vingt Poèmes with illustrations by Picasso. Francoise is present on every page. 

1949 :
- Publication of “les Sculptures de Picasso” by D-H Kahnweiler. 
- Picasso’s “Dove “ becomes poster for Peace Congress. 
- April 19; Birth of Paloma, his second daughter. 
- Dedicates himself to sculpture in his new studio, the Fournas in Vallauris. 

1950 :
- The sculpture “man with Sheep” is placed in the village square in Vallauris. Picasso is made citizen of honor by the town. 
- Goes to Sheffield, England to attend second Peace Conference.
- Picasso is awarded Lenin Peace Prize.
- Sculpture “Girl with a rope”, “The Goat”, and “Woman with Baby Carriage” show the playful elaboration of sculptures from diverse materials.