Today’s New York Times blog article on weeding out excessive Facebook friends is just the thing to cure yourself in the new February month of Valentines and ice-slicked streets: better to be close to the ones you truly love than to be bogged down by a host of peripheral acquaintances.

The other night I attended a lecture at the Yale University Art Gallery by two world-renowned experts on Picasso. One of the speakers was a close friend of Picasso’s. They talked more about long wine-soaked lunches and torrid affairs than anything else. Apparently, the original love of Picasso’s life, Olga, a beautiful Russian ballerina, was wounded and forced to walk around with a cane soon after their marriage. From then on, she became a monstrous figure in Picasso’s eyes. He was never faithful to her.

I would be interested to discover some famous male artists who weren’t womanizers. Maybe Edward Gorey or Joseph Cornell. At the reception for the lecture, they served Picasso’s favorite cocktail, a Kir Royal, which seems a bit flighty for Picasso.

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