Françoise Gilot (French/American, 1921-2023) holds an important place in the history of modern and contemporary art. One of the most prevailing artists from the post-WWII School of Paris, she led a 70-year career and created over 1,500 paintings and 4,000 works on paper. In addition to her painting and printmaking, she is remembered for her writing on the artistic titans of the twentieth century.
The pages in this section provide a biographical narrative of Gilot’s life and career. They include materials from the Françoise Gilot Archives at the Berman Museum of Art and digitized artwork from the Gilot Collection.
Additionally, these pages feature oral history recordings with the leading expert on Françoise Gilot, Mel Yoakum, Ph.D. Yoakum was the curator of the Gilot Archives starting in 1991 and became good friends with the artist over the years they worked together. He is the author of the museum’s 1995 publication Stone Echoes: Original Prints by Françoise Gilot—A Catalogue Raisonné, and he has contributed to several exhibition catalogue essays and articles about Gilot’s work.