Picasso
came to Paris for the first time in 1900, at the age of 19. Until 1955 Paris was
always somehow his base, although he always moved around a lot, in the
beginning back and forth to Spain, later with parallel homes and workshops in
the countryside. The last part of his life he lived mainly in the south of
France. He died at the age of 91 in 1973.
He changed
addresses quite often in Paris, in the beginning because of lack of money,
later often according to change of life partner… I have blogged about his most
famous Montmartre address (see here), the Bateau Lavoir, where he passed the
blue, the rose, the African-influenced, the cubism periods…and also about two
addresses in the Montparnasse areas (see here)… and of course about the newly
reopened Picasso Museum (see here).
This is
about a third address, rue des Grands Augustins. He stayed here for quite a
while, 1937-55, including during the WWII years – not making any exhibitions
during the Nazi occupation years. I don’t know if it was the actor Jean-Louis
Barrault, who had occupied the place with an experimental theatre, or the
photographer Dora Maar, who finally indicated the address to Picasso, but he
was obviously very happy about the place. Dora Maar became a partner.
This is
where one of Picasso’s most famous paintings was executed. In the beginning of
1937, Picasso had been commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to
make a wall painting for the Spanish pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair in
Paris. When he learned about the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian
warplanes, he changed his initial plans and started in the beginning of May to
make his painting. Dora Maar took photos… Finally he was ready, but a bit too late
for the opening of the exhibition.
We must remember
that Spain was in a civil war in 1937. It took a lot of violence before Franco managed
to take power in 1939. We can see the modest Spanish Republican (against
Franco) pavilion, more or less neighbour to the imposing German pavilion during
the Fair. The pavilion also showed works by Juan Miro and by Alexander Calder –
the Mercury Fountain.
The
Guernica painting travelled a lot after the World’s Fair exhibition and later, on
Picasso’s request, ended up at MoMA in NYC. Picasso clearly didn’t want his
painting to go to Spain before “the restoration of public liberties and
democratic institutions”. Finally the painting came to Spain in 1981, eight
years after Picasso’s death and six years after Franco’s death. It’s now
exposed at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.
It seems that there is a dispute ongoing about
the future of this historic building, rue des Grands Augustins – yes, there is a
lot more to be said about it. The present owners want to transform it into some
kind of luxury hotel… Nothing seems to be decided.
I found that this ceramic building of a mixed “art nouveau” and “art modern” (big windows) style was designed by an architect called André Arfvidson and that the ceramics have been done by Alexandre Bigot, who was also the creator of the decoration of several other 
Parallel to rue Campagne Première is another street, today pedestrian, called Passage d’Enfer (Hell Passage). 
The buildings partly share front and back side between these two streets and have been the home and studios for personalities like Man Ray, Foujita, Picabia, Rimbaud… Elsa Triolet and Aragon met at the hotel Istria. Modigliani had a studio close by and spent a lot of time drinking and fighting in the cafés here - there were some famous ones - paying with his paintings.
Walking down rue Campagne Première, looking into some small side streets and courtyards you find a lot of artist studios. Rainer-Maria Rilke was one of the inhabitants. 
Next surprise for me was the building just across the street, on the opposite side of Boulevard Raspail. I met with an architect in the street who now worked in this building. He let me in and I learnt the Picasso had his studio here 1912-13. Picasso then moved to another place a minute’s walk away where he stayed until 1918. You can here see his self portrait and some paintings from this period. 
A last thing worth mentioning: If you again cross the Boulevard Raspail, you will find the Fondation Cartier for temporary art, designed by Jean Nouvel. 
It was worth making a stop here. 
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