Life with Picasso (Françoise Gilot)
A very revealing memoir by a French painter named Françoise Gilot who had a 10 relationship with Pablo Picasso, beginning when she was 21 and he was 61. This details their tumultuous relationship and explains why she eventually left. Brave woman.
Emilie du Châtelet
Voltaire's long term romantic partner. She was a major mathematician and physicist independently. She absolutely influenced Voltaire’s intellectual and prolific status more than we will ever know.
Clara Shumann
Robert Schumann's legendary wife. She was a brilliant pianist and composer whose career was constrained by marriage, motherhood, and got stuck taking care of her husband when he got sick. Of course.
Sophia Tolstoya
Leo Tolstoy — Sophia married one of history’s most important novelists, sure. But guess who copied, edited, managed, and preserved enormous amounts of his work EVEN while their marriage was deteriorating? Yep
