Olga Khokhlova

Olga Khokhlova was a dancer with the Ballets Russes long before she became known as Picasso’s first wife. She travelled with the company, performed across Europe and the United States, and built a life around dance.

When I first painted Olga, I knew much less about her than I do now. Something in her image drew me in, so I painted her in my own colours, with a little ballerina beside her. Later, as I read the letters and family stories that survived her, I began to see more of the woman behind the familiar portraits: a dancer, a daughter who worried about her family, and a mother to Paulo.

This painting is my interpretation of Olga, beyond the role in which she is so often remembered.