40 Fun Facts About Paloma Picasso

Paloma Picasso's first name is the Spanish word for which bird, the star of her father's 1949 poster?

Dove is what Paloma means in Spanish. She was born in Paris the day before a world congress opened under her father's poster of the bird.

The bird on Pablo Picasso's 1949 poster, which gave Paloma Picasso her name, was a gift from which painter?

Henri Matisse gave his friend the Milanese pigeon that modeled for the lithograph. One of the century's best-known emblems began as a pet.

Which lipstick color, her lifelong signature, does Paloma Picasso say she leaves off when she wants to go unrecognized?

Red lipstick is so tied to her image that people called it her calling card. Her own shade, sold from the 1980s, was nicknamed after her first name.

Paloma Picasso's mother later married which American scientist, famous for developing a pioneering polio vaccine?

Jonas Salk became her stepfather in 1970, a year after meeting her mother at a friend's home in California. The marriage lasted until his death in 1995.

Which French couturier gave Paloma Picasso her first jewelry commission and sold her designs in his boutiques?

Yves Saint Laurent ordered accessories from her as soon as he saw her first pieces. Her vintage 1940s look also inspired his 1971 Scandal collection.

In 1970s Paris, Paloma Picasso's fashion friendships drew her into the social circle of which American pop artist?

Andy Warhol kept a Left Bank apartment in the early 1970s, and his entourage mixed with the city's jet set, Paloma among them.

Paloma Picasso's much-copied gold and silver X and O jewelry for Tiffany & Co. goes by which name?

Hugs and kisses is the nickname for the Xs and Os she put on pins, bracelets and necklaces. Her Tiffany pieces have ranged in price from about $100 to $500,000.

Which French painter, who lived to 101 and wrote a bestselling memoir about Pablo, was Paloma Picasso's mother?

Françoise Gilot walked out on the artist in 1953, taking Paloma and her brother to Paris. Her 1964 book Life with Picasso sold over a million copies.

Paloma Picasso's father Pablo pioneered which art movement alongside Georges Braque in the early twentieth century?

Cubism drew a famous jab from the critic Louis Vauxcelles, who wrote in 1908 that Braque reduced places, figures and houses to cubes.

Paloma Picasso, who acted in only one film, has said she would like to portray which French fashion designer?

Coco Chanel is the part she named after enjoying her single screen appearance in the 1970s. That film won Belgium's Prix de l'Âge d'Or in 1974.

Paloma Picasso improvised her first admired necklaces from gem-set bikinis made for which famous Paris music hall?

Folies Bergère stage jewels gave her the raw material, and theater critics noticed the result. It is the hall where Josephine Baker caused a sensation dancing in a banana skirt in 1926.

Which French company produced the Paloma Picasso perfume, launched in 1984 as a scent for strong women?

L'Oréal made the scent, a blend of florals and amber that sold for over $150 an ounce. She described it as jewelry for the senses.

In her only film role, Paloma Picasso played which noblewoman of gruesome legend in Immoral Tales?

Elizabeth Báthory, the Hungarian countess, was her part in the anthology by the Polish director Walerian Borowczyk. Critics praised her looks, yet she never acted on screen again.

Which Moroccan city, where Paloma Picasso made a home, names the collection marking her thirtieth year at Tiffany & Co.?

Marrakesh gave its name to the 2010 collection, built on her love of Morocco. Her garden there later inspired another Tiffany line.

Paloma Picasso's 2011 collection for Tiffany & Co. celebrates the motifs of which Italian city?

Venice is honored in the collection, which carries the city's Italian name, Venezia. It followed a line inspired by her home in North Africa.

Paloma Picasso moved in 2001 to which country, where she set up a foundation for her parents' art?

Switzerland became her base in 2001, when she moved to the Lake Geneva region. Her foundation there promotes her mother's paintings above all, since they were little known in Europe.

The jewelry house Zolotas, which sold Paloma Picasso's gold designs in the 1970s, comes from which country?

Greece is home to the House of Zolotas, where she honed her skills in gold before her American debut.

Paloma Picasso's first husband and business partner, playwright Rafael Lopez-Cambil, came from which country?

Argentina was the homeland of the man she called the architect of her career. She designed sets for his Paris plays before they married in 1978.

A 396-carat gemstone necklace designed by Paloma Picasso belongs to which famous American institution?

The Smithsonian shows it in the National Museum of Natural History. It is one of two American museums with her work in a permanent collection.

A 408-carat moonstone bracelet designed by Paloma Picasso sits in a natural history museum in which American city?

Chicago's Field Museum keeps the bracelet in its permanent collection, under the same roof as Sue, one of the largest T. rex skeletons ever found.

Diamonds on Paloma Picasso's museum-held 408-carat moonstone bracelet are set in the shape of what?

Lightning bolts in diamonds flash across the bracelet. Its moonstone weighs about 82 grams, close to three ounces.

Which gemstone, named after a Tiffany & Co. gem expert, features in a 396-carat necklace by Paloma Picasso?

Kunzite honors George Frederick Kunz, the Tiffany gem expert who identified the new stone after its discovery in 1902. Strong sunlight can fade its color.

Which early Paloma Picasso collection for Tiffany & Co. spells out words such as Love in her own handwriting?

Graffiti took its cue from the street art of 1970s New York, then seen as vandalism. Its Love necklace, spelled out in her own hand, has spawned countless imitations.

Paloma Picasso's 2013 collection for Tiffany & Co. copies the leaves of which tree growing around her Moroccan home?

Olive groves surround her house, and she sketched the designs in the garden. She linked the motif to the branch carried by the bird she is named after.

What did Paloma Picasso first create for Tiffany & Co. in 1979, complete with a mushroom-shaped cake?

A table setting called End of Summer, trimmed with a silver ribbon, was her audition. It went over so well that the firm asked her for jewelry.

Which designer of the Bone cuff was the leading name at Tiffany & Co. when Paloma Picasso arrived?

Elsa Peretti had signed with the firm in 1974 to design its first silver jewelry in 25 years. By 1979 she was its leading designer.

Which European tableware house brought out china, crystal and tiles designed by Paloma Picasso from 1989?

Villeroy & Boch took her from jewelry into home furnishings in 1989. Fabrics and wall coverings for another firm followed.

Which mythical monster, a favorite subject of Pablo Picasso, names the men's fragrance Paloma Picasso launched in 1992?

Minotaur, in its French spelling Minotaure, is the name on the bottle she designed. The bull-headed beast replaced the harlequin as a regular in her father's art in the 1930s.

Which second wife of Pablo Picasso kept Paloma Picasso away from her father's funeral in 1973?

Jacqueline Roque barred both children of his earlier partner from the burial. A French court still named them heirs in 1974.

Which older brother of Paloma Picasso, a photographer, managed their father's estate from 1989 until 2023?

Claude served as the court-appointed administrator of the estate. He also raced vintage cars and received France's Legion of Honour in 2011.

A 1965 portrait of Paloma Picasso by her mother, sold for $1.3 million in 2021, shows her with which instrument?

Guitar appears in the French title, Paloma à la Guitare. The canvas went under the hammer at Sotheby's in London.

A well-known Pablo Picasso portrait of his young daughter Paloma Picasso shows her with which fruit?

An orange gives the canvas its title, Paloma with an Orange. Her father painted her many times, in works such as Paloma in Blue.

In Vallauris, the Riviera town of Paloma Picasso's early childhood, her father Pablo threw himself into which craft?

Pottery was the town's trade, and his presence helped revive the industry in the 1950s. He lived there from 1948 to 1955.

Which designer made the heart-shaped gown Paloma Picasso wore to the disco reception after her 1978 wedding?

Karl Lagerfeld dressed her for the party, while a rival couturier made her outfit for the ceremony itself. The two looks excited the fashion world.

Which American photographer shot the famous advertisement for the fragrance that carries Paloma Picasso's name?

Richard Avedon took the picture that tied her face to the brand. Years earlier, her brother had worked as his assistant in New York.

After university in Nanterre, what did Paloma Picasso create for avant-garde Paris theater before turning to jewelry?

Costumes were her first trade, as a theatrical costumer and stylist. Necklaces she improvised for the stage drew the reviews that sent her to jewelry school.

Pablo Picasso died in 1973 without leaving which legal document, pushing Paloma Picasso into court over his estate?

A will was never written, so judges had to divide a fortune valued at $250 million. Her share was put at close to $90 million.

As a Paris teenager, Paloma Picasso built her personal look by pairing designer clothes with finds from where?

Flea markets supplied the 1940s pieces she mixed with couture. The look was striking enough to inspire a whole 1971 collection by a couturier friend.

Pablo Picasso was still legally married to which Russian ballet dancer when his daughter Paloma Picasso was born?

Olga Khokhlova had danced with the Ballets Russes before marrying him. They separated in 1935 but stayed legally married until her death in 1955.

Paloma Picasso's father Pablo painted which huge anti-war canvas in 1937, now on show in Madrid?

Guernica answered the bombing of a Basque town that April. Many critics rank it the most moving and powerful anti-war painting in history.