The portrait of his wife: Russian Muse of European artists

July 12, 1919 in the town hall of seventh district of Paris, took place the marriage of artist Pablo Picasso and his lover Olga Khokhlova.

Let us remember who were inspired by Dali, Matisse and Picasso? Olga, Elena and Lydia. Take a look at the amazing portraits of Russian women, who for many years was a companion of the greatest artists of the twentieth century.

Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Olga in the armchair. 1917. Picasso Museum, Paris, France.The Muse of a legal marriage, "Portrait of Olga in the armchair" Picasso wrote in the beginning of their acquaintance. Fragile, graceful, reserved, melancholic — this was Olga Stepanovna Khokhlova, a ballerina of the legendary troupe of Sergei Diaghilev. She was fascinated Picasso so much that for her 37-year-old abstract artist at the time changed his style and went back to realism. After all, she asked him: "I want to see the portraits of your face..." And she came out recognizable — and other portraits, and this fact is perhaps known.

Olga Khokhlova in the chair. Around 1917. The picture is based on photos of Olga Picasso in the Studio, so we have a rare opportunity to compare how you saw her in love with the artist and impartial camera. In all the portraits of the early years of their marriage, Olga is the same as this, seen through the prism of love, brooding, ethereal, perfect. The present "Russian soul."

Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Olga Khokhlova in Mantilla. 1917. Picasso Museum, Malaga, Spain. But can a genius be satisfied with a single Muse? Picasso was enough for ten years. The farther, the more the wife annoyed him. And here, no tenderness, the artist writes Olga in the form of an old woman, in the form of a horse (in a series of paintings devoted to bullfighting). Or draws her in the same abstract style that Olga hated so much. Picasso a new hobby, and eventually Olga will not stand and leave. Divorce she will not give — not to share pictures. Till death she will remain the official wife of Picasso. But Muse will cease to be.

Salvador Dali. Atomic Leda. 1949. Theatre-Museum Dali, Figueres, Spain.Muse of inner peace "Atomic Leda" is one of the most publicized works of Dali was written several years after the atomic bombing of Japan. But the great surrealist happening in the real world — just an excuse to talk about what was happening in his inner world. And there was his wife, his majestic Gala. In the painting it becomes a new Leda, and he is Given the Jupiter, a Swan, hovering close to and almost not related to the beloved. "A sublime experience libido" — so to explain the image of the artist. Perhaps their relationship can be described so.

Salvador Dali and Gala. Gala — a nickname which translates as "holiday". Its owner was for their men real fireworks. Before meeting Dalí had to be the Muse of French poet Paul Eluard (and even to marry him), and German artist max Ernst. But she did not hesitate to cast all for the sake Given, which at the time was younger than her ten years and still not very famous. And he enthusiastically obeyed her.

Salvador Dali "Corpuscular azure ascension Madonna", in 1952. The gala will be Given to the wife, the Secretary, the Manager and even the babysitter — in short, everything. But, more importantly, she would be his Muse. And if the artist in the painting we see the image of a woman, you can be almost sure that it is. Amazing: what a crazy world it is around her or a while, though, she almost always written realistic. Poetically, it is possible to assume that Gala was the only real reality of Salvador Dali.

Henri Matisse. Girl in a blue blouse (Portrait of Lydia Delektorskaya). 1939. The State Hermitage Museum.Muse a happy old portraits of Lydia Delektorskaya so much to choose the the most famous difficult. Matisse himself admitted: "When I'm bored, I'm doing a portrait of Madame Lydia. I know her, like some kind of letter". For example, the portrait 1939, written at the beginning of the Second world war. Golden hair, blue blouse (judging by the other paintings, the artist liked to write it in blue). Calm, soulful young face, which smile not of lips, and eyes. This portrait of Lydia when she was brought to the Soviet Union and gave to the Hermitage. The picture 1947, donated to the Hermitage, at first glance, more abstract lines of the face are simplified but a pretty girl's face remains recognizable.

Henri Matisse and Lydia Delektorskaya. Russian immigrant Lydia, forced after a failed marriage to seek a livelihood, knocked at the doors of Matisse in search of work in 1932 when she was 22. She was lucky to become the assistant master, Secretary, and in addition a nurse and his wife a disabled. It is unlikely, then, acquainted with a 65-year-old master, she could imagine what would become his favorite model, Muse and so loved that, as it later admitted, "was in continuation of 20 years of "the light of his eyes," but it is for me, the only meaning of life."

Henri Matisse. Portrait Of Lydia Delektorskaya. 1947. The State Hermitage Museum. "Friend and assistant", which the artist loved, received him not only a salary and gifts, have become priceless — their work. After his death, Lydia had lived a long life but could never forget Matisse. And even though she left Russia as a child, it is the home of Lydia Delektorskaya gave their "matasovsky" collection: not only his paintings and drawings, but also blouses and jewelry, which she posed to the master, as well as his personal belongings. On her gravestone in Pavlovsk inscribed: "Matisse has retained her beauty for eternity."