After one of the most harrowing taxi rides I have ever endured (think aggressive drag racing with another cab down 9th Avenue, agitated swearing, wild gesticulating and spitting), I spilled out in front of the Gagosian Gallery on 21st Street grateful to be alive.  It took me a minute to catch my breath and get my wits about me but I pressed on and was rewarded with this majestic coif: This ballsy lady was the guard who greeted me for the intense exhibition, Picasso and Marie-Thérese: L’amour fou.  Look at the pride on her face.  This woman is fantastic in every way… So it turns out, Arnold ain’t the only one with a secret family.  A married Picasso met Marie-Thérese on the street in 1927 when she was just shy of 18 years old (he was 46).  He asked if he could paint her portrait but she had no idea who he was.  Once he took her to a bookstore and showed her some of his published work, according to the press release, “flattered and curious, she agreed.  Thus began a secret love affair that would establish Marie-Thérese as the primary inspiration for Picasso’s most daring aesthetic experiments in the decade to come.”  It is remarkable to me that this woman: Inspired this: Read the rest of this post »