Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole

In 1972, Johnathan Richmond wrote Pablo Picasso, with the famous lyric above. Today I Learned: Pablo owned a LOT of cars but never drove, and apparently never had an El Dorado.

Even though I loved my Art History class in college (really, I learned a ton!), I somehow thought that Pablo Picasso was a Victorian figure, and that the line

Well, the girls would turn the color of the
Avocado when he would drive down their street in his El Dorado

was just totally anachronistic – how could Pablo have ever driven a car?

Pablo Picasso was born in 1881, a bit less than 150 years ago:

• The first issue of the feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is published by Hubertine Auclert in Paris
• James A. Garfield is sworn in as the 20th president of the United States
• Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett, outside Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
• Tokyo Law College, predecessor of Hosei University, is founded in Japan

He lived to be 91. Died in 1973 when I was about 4 years old. The United States launched Skylab, the Roe v. Wade decision, Dick Nixon was sworn in for a second term, the first handheld mobile phone call was made.

There are lots of photos of Picasso with cars: Hispano Suiza, a Talbot-Lago Record T26, a Lincoln Premier, a 1948 Oldsmobile Futuramic, a Renault Dauphine. The first El Dorado came off the assembly line in 1952, when Picasso was 71.But as far as I can tell, Pablo never owned one.

In fact, he did not drive – he had chauffeurs or his girlfriend pilot the cars according to Patrick Smith. The story of the acquisition of the Olds goes to show he probably was called an asshole.

A long story to illustrate how hard it is (for me?) to put figures in the proper historical context.