Gilot and Picasso.

Part four in Gagosian's ongoing series of epic Picasso exhibitions is set to hit New York on April 30, and the focus will be work made during the artist's relationship with Francoise Gilot in the 1940s and early '50s, Bloomberg's Katya Kazakina reports in the wire service's new Pursuits magazine.

Ms. Gilot, 90, is famously known as the only woman ever to leave the insatiable artist. "I am very independent," she told Ms. Kazakina. "I was a completely new type of woman for him."

Picasso biographer John Richardson is once again providing his expertise for the show, and shares this of a work that appeared in one of the gallery's earlier Picasso shows: "A self-portrait with the red around the eye I find absolutely terrifying. It's Picasso outstaring death."

Want to buy a Picasso? Gagosian director Valentina Castellani--described by Mr. Richardson as "Larry's right hand" (she got him the job with Gagosian)--had this to say: "We always have a few works for sale. ... We send out a message that Gagosian is a place where you can both sell and buy Picassos of the highest quality."

Mr. Richardson. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

The British-born Picasso biographer John Richardson was recently named a knight and, in an interview with the Evening Standard to mark the occasion, showed that time has not tempered his personality or candor.

You should really just go read the thing yourself, but among the choice revelations is the fact that he once came back from America with a tattoo, and when Pablo found out he was infuriated. "I would have tattooed you!" he apparently said.

From the interview:

Apparently Picasso had always hoped to do a Cubist still life on someone's back. He was about to do one on Georges Braque in Paris, in fact, but the First World War intervened. It was perhaps Picasso's preference for the DIY "prison" method (needle, ink, pain) that put Richardson off - "It would have hurt."

For his investiture, Mr. Richardson was offered Prince Charles but really thought it would be better to wait for the Queen, so that's in April.

Also revealed: Mr. Richardson's Fifth Avenue apartment resembles an "Italian palazzo and contains one of the largest penises in the world, purchased from a whaling museum."

[via Art Market Monitor]