Madame Picasso

Written by Anne Girard

Narrated by Leslie Carroll

The mesmerizing and untold story of Eva Gouel, the unforgettable woman who stole the heart of the greatest artist of our time When Eva Gouel moves to Paris from the countryside, she is full of ambition and dreams of stardom. Though young and inexperienced, she manages to find work as a costumer at the famous Moulin Rouge, and it is here that she first catches the attention of Pablo Picasso, a rising star in the art world. A brilliant but eccentric artist, Picasso sets his sights on Eva, and Eva can't help but be drawn into his web. But what starts as a torrid affair soon evolves into what will become the first great love of Picasso's life. With sparkling insight and passion, Madame Picasso introduces us to a dazzling heroine, taking us from the salon of Gertrude Stein to the glamorous Moulin Rouge and inside the studio and heart of one of the most enigmatic and iconic artists of the twentieth century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490618814

Anne Girard

Anne Girard is a writer and historian with degrees in English literature and clinical psychology. She has spent extensive time in Paris and lives in California with her husband and children.

Reviews for Madame Picasso

[brokenteepee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I will write that I am not a fan of Picasso's art. I just don't understand it. My love of art runs more towards older works. That does not mean that I don't enjoy reading about the lives of great artists and the times in which they lived. This particular period - just before WWI - is a time of great change in the art world and Paris is the center of that universe.Eva leaves her small town in to avoid an arranged marriage and she runs away to Paris. She gets a job at the Moulin Rouge as a seamstress. Through her relationships there she ends up socializing with the famous and infamous of the art scene in Paris. She ends up meeting Picasso and as they say, lightening strikes for both of them. But he is in a long standing relationship - but he is starting to feel restless and there is something about this woman from the country.There was not much left to history about Eva Grouel so much of this book is supposition but that is the glory of historical fiction. An author can take the little there is and create that magical world of "what might have been." Ms. Girard creates a delightful romance out of a few letters and Picasso's paintings. Eva's insecurities do get a bit tiresome but overall I really enjoyed this trip back into a thrilling time in the history of art.

[clprice-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed Anne Girard's writing. Her story of Picasso and his mistress Eva Gouel portrayed a very romantic image of Picasso and made me curious to read more about him and his life. The book is not as intense as The Girl with the Pearl Earring, but somewhat similar to Susan Vreeland's writing. At the end of the book, there are questions for discussion which would be good for book clubs and an interesting discussion with the author. She was challenged to find information about Eva, but had the extraordinary opportunity to talk to one of Picasso's last living friends who shared stories with her about Picasso. I believe that encounter would be great reading is she wrote about it.I would love to discuss this book with my docent and art loving friends to hear what they think of this perspective of Picasso's life.

[muddyboy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The compelling story of the life of Eva Gouel who rises from humble origins to become the muse and one true love of the artist Pablo Picasso. She is portrayed as such a truly sweet person that, if true, I can see why Picasso was so enchanted with her. The novel is also interesting in the fine way that the author has described the setting and time period in Paris and beyond. The book reads like butter and gives much insight into the artist community in Paris during that era. A must read for lovers of romantic historical fiction.

[celticlady53 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Pablo Picasso was one of most influential painters of his era. He is not only known for his works of art. He was a painter, sculptor and poet but was also known for the many women he has loved. He is a tortured soul who isn't able to settle down with one woman. and carries around a lot of guilt and sadness over the death of his sister Conchita. He is well known for the co founding of the Cubist movement in painting. He is one of three artists who played a big part in the developments in painting, sculpture, printmaking and ceramics.Eva Gouel is a young woman who left home to find her dreams in Paris. With only sewing as the skill that she posses, she gets a job at the Moulin Rouge repairing costumes for performers using the name Marcelle Humbert. She finds the stage an exciting place to work and quickly befriends several people, one of which is Pablo Picasso. At the time of this story he is in a long time relationship with Fernande Olivier, an artist/model. Theirs was a tumultuous affair and Fernande hoped to become Madame Picasso, she actually called herself that even though they were never married. After Picasso falls for Eva he calls it quits with Fernande. Eva is Picasso's muse and paints many pictures with a notation on the painting of Ma Jolie, I Love Eva. This novel is mostly the story of the relationship of Eva and Picasso.I found this novel to be very informative, my knowledge of art in general and Picasso in particular being almost nil. Reading about the Moulin Rouge, Paris and other parts of France was interesting indeed. I also learned abit about the crowd that Picasso, Fernande and Eva belonged to, although I did know about Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas. They were both Americans who settled in Paris and were both well known in their own right as writers, activists and life partners. It was very in vogue during this particular era to be seen at one of Gertrudes parties. This is a romantic historical novel set in the dawn of the Belle Epogue, a time of new scientific discoveries, less rigid rules and more love of life and the arts. A bittersweet tale of a powerful love that not many people get in their lifetime. I highly recommend this book.

[bookscookslooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I will write that I am not a fan of Picasso's art. I just don't understand it. My love of art runs more towards older works. That does not mean that I don't enjoy reading about the lives of great artists and the times in which they lived. This particular period - just before WWI - is a time of great change in the art world and Paris is the center of that universe.Eva leaves her small town in to avoid an arranged marriage and she runs away to Paris. She gets a job at the Moulin Rouge as a seamstress. Through her relationships there she ends up socializing with the famous and infamous of the art scene in Paris. She ends up meeting Picasso and as they say, lightening strikes for both of them. But he is in a long standing relationship - but he is starting to feel restless and there is something about this woman from the country.There was not much left to history about Eva Grouel so much of this book is supposition but that is the glory of historical fiction. An author can take the little there is and create that magical world of "what might have been." Ms. Girard creates a delightful romance out of a few letters and Picasso's paintings. Eva's insecurities do get a bit tiresome but overall I really enjoyed this trip back into a thrilling time in the history of art.

[thewanderingjew_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Although I have read several of the books published about the mistresses and wives of famous people, and enjoyed the crafted development of their characters, this one simply did not connect with me, for some reason. It wasn’t that the story was not interesting; I think it was just too long, too repetitive and lacked enough substance to hold my interest.Also, I listened to an audio version from One-Click, and the speed could not be adjusted. The reader breathed too heavily at times, over emoted, over pronounced each word, drawing out each syllable, and spoke so slowly, it was like waiting for a butterfly to emerge from a cocoon. Unfortunately, I never saw the butterfly. Her portrayal of the characters was not distinct enough in tone of voice, so there was little discernible difference from one to another. Male and female characters, in particular, sounded alike. That said, if you like these kinds of books and you read the print version, it might be more satisfying. At least then, you could skip pages more easily, when it got redundant. I think the author created a fairytale love affair from a few notes and letters that she was able to acquire, especially from the correspondence that existed between Eva Gouel, Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein. There is no doubt that she worked hard on the narrative as the number of pages prove, but there is little truly known about the main character, Marcel Umbert, and her time in Paris. Her real name was Eva Gouel, born in 1885, died in 1915. There is little written or known about her life either. What we learn from this book is that she and Pablo Picasso were an item for a period of time, and she may have been his muse, and sometimes, his model, but was well loved or, at least, very much appreciated by him. How much of an item they really were is largely surmised by the author, but their love affair was thought to be kismet. When she and Picasso met, they were smitten with each other as if Cupid’s arrow pierced both their hearts as one. The author portrayed their forbidden love as unstoppable, moving with a will of its own, even though Picasso was otherwise involved with another woman at that same time. Their relationship profoundly changed both their lives.Eva came from a small village in France. When she was in her mid twenties, in the first decade of the 20th century, she ran away to Paris to escape an arranged marriage and make her fortune. She managed to snag a job as a seamstress, at the Moulin Rouge. She is portrayed as an ingénue who somehow worked her way into the upper echelons of the society of artists and authors, and began to travel in their circles, often attending the coveted salons of Gertrude Stein.I did not find the rendering of Eva Gouel credible. For someone who was supposed to be a naïve country girl, she simply seemed far too sophisticated. The repartee between the well known and accomplished Picasso, and his friends, and the supposedly artless young woman, Marcel Umbert, seemed too cultivated to ring true. Much of the dialogue was repetitive. She loved him, he loved her, he was devoted, she was devoted; they were in love. It never went further than that for me. It was simply too long and never ended with a satisfying idea of what their real relationship might have been. She gave up her virtue so easily, I was surprised, given the era and her background. It is mostly speculation and I didn’t feel captured by the author’s theories, which for me simply didn’t ring true. I could not tell which part of the narrative might be real and which was manufactured; I realize now, that was because most of it was manufactured. While the author tried to follow the timeline of events, she had little information on the relationship between Pablo and Eva and less on Eva Gouel, herself.There is no doubt that Eva Gouel, if she was “ma jolie”, had a profound influence on Picasso for her brief time on earth, but I felt the author gave her too much credit for sophisticated reasoning on the subjects of art and writing, or too much credit for being naïve when she may have been more cunning than she appeared, and not enough credit for her simple beauty which captured the eye of the painter known as Pablo Picasso.There was the usual famous name-dropping as there is in most books of this kind, and in addition to Stein and Toklas, we read about Maurice Chevalier, Cezanne, Georges Breck, and so many others. I found the dialogue between characters to be trite and meaningless, at times. The book glamorized Picasso and over sexualized their relationship to create interest. I would have preferred more realistic suppositions that were more broadly described and intensely explored. The relationship seemed almost flighty at times, with Eva martyred and Picasso damned. I suppose the reader will come away with the notion that Picasso was a womanizer and that Eva was his angel. If that was her purpose, the author succeeded, but she could have achieved that goal in far fewer words. I wondered, at the end, who was the real Madame Picasso in this book?

[bookofsecrets · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

MADAME PICASSO is an enthralling fictional account of the brief but passionate love affair between Pablo Picasso and his muse, Eva Gouel. I chose to read this book because I'm drawn to novels set in the early 20th century, and the author did a masterful job transporting readers to Paris near the end of the Belle Époque. This was a grand time when art and literature flourished, until World War I dramatically altered the tone of the city.Very little is known about the real Eva Gouel, an unassuming seamstress at the Moulin Rouge who became Picasso's infatuation in 1911. I enjoyed Eva's character in this book. She had great spirit and determination, and she made a huge impact on Picasso, both the man and his art. It was also interesting to see a vulnerable, compassionate side of Picasso portrayed. Eva and Picasso's love story was bittersweet, and I had tears in my eyes while reading the last couple of chapters.MADAME PICASSO is an unforgettable story filled with an array of colorful characters - artists, poets, intellectuals - living during that time. I'd definitely recommend this book to art history buffs and historical fiction fans.Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the book tour company in exchange for an honest review.