Grand-Pere

This is a memoir of living in the shadow of the man whose family members were

forced to call him "The Sun" -- the twentieth century's most famous painter

who, in becoming so, dominated the lives of his wives, his children and his

grandchildren -- as told by Marina Picasso, the granddaughter of Pablo Picasso

and his first wife, Olga Khokhlova, a former Russian ballerina who remained

married to him until her death.

While writers, artists and film stars were allowed into Picasso's orbit, he

kept his family outside of it, not only in impoverished conditions but in

terror of provoking his displeasure -- unable to carve lives and identities of

their own. After years of being disdained by Picasso, first Marina's brother

committed suicide and then Marina's father drank himself to death. Marina's

own estrangement and subsequent breakdown followed, until at last, through

grief and awakening, she came to terms with the blessings and curses of the

Picasso legacy -- the result of which is in part this disturbing account of

Pablo Picasso's private family life.