Picasso came to the Bateau-Lavoir in 1904 and stayed for the best part of a decade working (he painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon here) and sharing loves, quarrels, febrile discussions, opium trips and diverse escapades with Braque, Juan Gris, Modigliani, Max Jacob, Apollinaire and others both famous and obscure. It was on the place Émile-Goudeau that he had his first encounter with the beautiful Fernande Olivier, thrusting a kitten into her hand as she passed by. "I laughed," she said, "and he took me to see his studio." Fernande became his model and lover.Although what you see today is a reconstruction, it still has the same aspect on the street side, and little has changed in the square itself.
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