R.I.P.

Pablo Picasso’s Youngest Son and Estate Manager Dies at 76

Picasso’s fourth child, Claude Ruiz-Picasso took over his father’s estate after he and his sister sued to be legally recognized as the artist’s legitimate children.

Claude Ruiz-Picasso, the youngest son of artist Pablo Picasso, died on Thursday in Switzerland. He was 76. His death was confirmed by his lawyer, Jean-Jacques Neuer. No cause of death was immediately provided. Ruiz-Picasso was a photographer and film director who also ran his father’s estate, managing it from 1989 until last month, when he ceded control to his younger sister, Paloma. He and Paloma were the children Picasso had with French artist Françoise Gilot, who died earlier this year at 101 years old. The Spanish painter had two other children: Paul, the product of his first marriage to dancer Olga Khokhlova, who died in 1975, and Maya, whose mother was model Marie-Thérèse Walter, who died last year. Picasso, 40 years Gilot’s senior, cut off contact with her and her children in 1964 after she published a memoir about their life together. In the ‘70s, Ruiz-Picasso and Paloma successfully sued to be legally recognized as Picasso’s legitimate children. A French court ruled that Picasso had confirmed his paternity by dedicating several paintings to the pair, according to The New York Times. Ruiz-Picasso is survived by his wife, Madame Sylvie Picasso, and two children, Jasmin and Solal.