Paloma Ruiz-Picasso, the youngest of Pablo Picasso’s four children, has been appointed administrator of the artist’s Parisian estate.
As administrator, Ruiz-Picasso will oversee copyright and resale rights, trademarks and other intellectual property matters related to Picasso and his more than seven decades of work. She replaces her brother Claude, who voluntarily stepped down after holding the post since 1989, according to the AFPwho broke the news first.
Picasso estate lawyer Jean-Jacques Neuer told the outlet that the move would be “very important for the art world”. Neuer did not immediately return a request for comment.
Ruiz-Picasso, 74, is the daughter of Spanish painter and French artist Françoise Gilot, who died aged 101 in June 2023. Beyond the associations implied by her name, she is best known as a jewelry, handbag and fragrance designer for brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Tiffany, and L’Oreal. Examples of her jewelry are in the permanent collections of the The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Paloma Picasso. Photo: Pierre Vauthey/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images.
The Picasso Estate is jointly owned by the artist’s surviving children, Claude and Paloma Ruiz-Picasso, and his grandchildren, Marina Picasso and Bernard Ruiz-Picasso. The artist’s eldest child, Maya Widmaier Picassowas also a former owner she passed away at the end of last year. She is survived by her three children, Diana, Olivier and Richard Widmaier-Picasso.
Last year, Marina Picasso and her DJ son, Florian, announced plans to release some 1,000 NFTs based on a ceramic bowl made by Picasso in 1958. But the project was blocked by the Picasso estate, which would have led to quarrels within the family. Florian Picasso eventually released the digital collectibles under his own name, but the series turned out to be a flop.
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