Claude Ruiz-Picasso died age 76
Claude Ruiz-Picasso, son of Pablo Picasso and the longtime administrator of the late Spanish artist’s estate, the Succession Picasso, has died in August 2023 at the age of 76 in Switzerland.
Born in 1947, Claude was a photojournalist, graphic designer and movie maker and once worked as an assistant to photographer Richard Avedon. But his greatest legacy was managing that of his father’s, when he was appointed by the french court system to take over the Picasso estate in 1989. That involved cataloguing the Picasso archive, cracking down on forgeries and unauthorized reproductions of the artist’s work.
The state France recognized Claude’s work on behalf of the estate with the nation’s highest honour, the Légion d’Honneur, in 2011.
Claude as a guardian and interpreter of his father’s legacy, leading the Picasso Administration since its founding and enthusiastically supporting international scholarship and exhibitions. He was an extraordinary serious man and a respectful friend. ArtExpert | Network is grateful for its cooperative support.
It is just 2023, the year that has seen a spate of Picasso exhibitions marking the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death.
Just this year in June, Claude’s mother, the artist Françoise Gilot, died in the age of 101. Pablo Picasso and Gilot, who also had a daughter, the jewelry designer Paloma Picasso, were together for a couple of years but never married. After their contentious split, and the publication of her 1964 memoir, "Life with Picasso", the artist broke off contact with their children. In order to be recognized as his father’s son and heir, Claude actually filed a lawsuit in 1970, which was decided in his favour after a bitter six-year inheritance dispute over the estate.
Already in June 2023, Claude ceded control of the Picasso estate to his sister Paloma.
His death is confirmed by his lawyer J.-J. Neuer.