Pablo Picasso's Fortune

Pablo Picasso knew what a scramble there would be among his legal heirs and claimants over his fortune when he died. He even predicted. «It will be worse than anything you can imagine». Thus he didn't even bother to make a will, and died intestate. His lawyer friend Armand Antebi said Picasso died without leaving a will because of his superstition about death. Some say he just wanted to be ornery. In any event, Picasso's prediction came true. He left an estimated $90,000,000 in bank accounts, investments, real estate, art works, etc. Besides all that, there is the incalculable treasure of his own works stored in his many homes, which include a forty-room castle in Vauvenargues, Provence, and his country mansion near Grasse. His biographer Sir Rowland Penrose said Picasso kept hundreds, possibly even thousands of his paintings, drawings, and sculptures. There are two known legal heirs to this vast fortune: his second wife Jacqueline, who married him in 1961, and Paulo Picasso, his fiftyish son by his first marriage to Russian dancer

Olga Kolgova. Francoise Gilet, his former mistress who bore two illegitimate children of Picasso's, Claude and Paloma, and who is now very respectably married to a polio vaccine discoverer Dr. Jonas Salk, let it be known that she expects her children to fight for the share of the estate. Claude and Paloma and an older illegitimate half sister have all been to court seeking to be recognized as Picasso's legitimate offspring. If the suits of all the claimants fail, Picasso's widow Jacqueline is entitled to half of all that her husband acquired since their marriage in 1961, and Paulo, the painter's only legitimate son, will inherit the remainder of the estate.

Vocabulary.

fortune - богатство, состояние

scramble - схватка, борьба

heir - наследник

claimant - лицо, предъявляющее право, претензию или требование

predict - пресказывать

imagine - представлять

bother - беспокоить(ся)

make* a will - составить завещание

interstate - умерший без завещания

superstition - суеверие, предрассудок

ornery - злобный, своенравный, упрямый

in any event - в любом случае

come* true - сбываться

estimate - оценивать

account - (банковский) счет

investment - вклад

real estate - недвижимость

art work - произведение искусства

incalculable - неподдающийся оценке

treasure - богатство, сокровище

store - хранить

include - включать

castle - замок

mansion - особняк

vast - обширный

marriage - брак

former - бывший

mistress - любовница

bore* - родить

illegitimate - незаконнорожденный

polio - полиомиелит

share - доля, часть

seek - стремиться

recognise - признавать

offspring - потомок, потомки

suit = lawsuit - иск, судебное дело/процесс

fail - проваливаться, не удаваться

widow - вдова

acquire - приобретать, получать

the only - единственный

legitimate - законорожденный

inherit - унаследовать

remainder - оставшаяся часть

Ex. Answer the following questions.

1. Why didn't Picasso make a will?

2. How much did he leave?

3. How many legal heirs to his fortune were there?

4. Were there other people who could fight for getting a share of Picasso's fortune?

Topics to discuss.

1. Pablo Picasso's fortune.

2. Pablo Picasso's heirs.

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