Aurelia In A Red Bonnet

Françoise Gilot studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and then, encouraged by her father, studied international law, though she secretly also took art lessons at the same time. 

In 1943, during her first exhibition in Paris, Gilot (then 21) met Pablo Picasso (who was 61) for the first time. In 1946, Gilot started a 10-year relationship with him and had two of his children, Claude and Paloma.

As a result of her relationship with Picasso, Gilot became both a witness and a participant in one of the last great periods of the modern art movement in Europe. Their circle included poets, philosophers, writers, and many of the legends of the art world, such as Braque, Chagall, Cocteau and Matisse. 

In 1953, Gilot left Picasso and the home they shared in Vallauris and moved back to Paris. 

"Lithographs are printed from stones and each stone is an echo of my artistic voice," said Gilot. "Many artists use their art as a personal catharsis. I have never done that. I am more intellectual. Each artistic process — oils, lithographs, monotypes — allows me a different freedom and suits a different mood." 

While Gilot did her first lithograph in 1950 at the Mourlot Atelier, the same studio used by Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró and Jean Dubuffet, it was in the 1970s that she really began to experiment with the process. 

"In the beginning, I turned to lithography because I wanted to show off my technical skills. Now I am more interested in color," said Gilot. "I also thought that lithographs would make my works more accessible to young collectors."

Gilot’s work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, the Musée Picasso and other institutions.

Find original Françoise Gilot prints, watercolor paintings and other art on 1stDibs. 

(Biography provided by Lions Gallery)

Prints are works of art produced in multiple editions. Though several copies of a specific artwork can exist, collectors consider antique and vintage prints originals when they have been manually created by the artist or are “impressions” that are part of the artist’s intent for the work.

Modern artists use a range of printmaking techniques to produce different types of prints such as relief, intaglio and planographic. Relief prints are created by cutting away a printing surface to leave only a design. Ink or paint is applied to the raised parts of the surface, and it is used to stamp or press the design onto paper or another surface. Relief prints include woodcuts, linocuts and engravings.

Intaglio prints are the opposite of relief prints in that they are incised into the printing surface. The artist cuts the design into a block, plate or other material and then coats it with ink before wiping off the surface and transferring the design to paper through tremendous pressure. Intaglio prints have plate marks showing the impression of the original block or plate as it was pressed onto the paper.

Artists create planographic prints by drawing a design on a stone or metal plate using a grease crayon. The plate is washed with water, then ink is spread over the plate and it adheres to the grease markings. The image is then stamped on paper to make prints.

All of these printmaking methods have an intricate process, although each can usually transfer only one color of ink. Artists use separate plates or blocks for multiple colors, and together these create one finished work of art.

Find prints ranging from the 18th- and 19th-century bird illustrations by J.C. Sepp to mid-century modern prints, as well as numerous other antique and vintage prints at 1stDibs. Browse the collection today and read about how to arrange wall art in your space.