Picasso's granddaughter says selling his Cannes villa for £100million

Marina Picasso, 64, has reportedly received an offer of almost £110million for the majestic villa, called 'La Californie' - which she inherited at the age of just 22.

She has spoken out about the artist being cold and distant towards her when she was a child - and has said that he abandoned her family to live in poverty.  

Ms Picasso says that now that her five children are grown up, she is selling the property in a bid to   'turn the page on a rather painful story'.

'It is not a house where I have a lot of good memories,' she told the Nice-Matin newspaper.

'I saw very little of my grandfather there. I understand that he may have been captivated by painting and nothing else was more important to him. 

'But when you are a child, you do not see it like that.'

She remembers being brought to the majestic house to visit the artist as child by her father Paulo - where they would be told to wait at the gate until he finished working.

But despite having a famous grandfather, she has said that she grew up in poverty with Picasso unwilling to provide any financial help to her family.

Years of therapy and a 2001 memoir titled 'Picasso: My Grandfather' has helped her express her anger and come to terms with her unhappy childhood memories.

Now, Ms Picasso is selling the estate along with 126 of his works from between 1947 and 1965, which Sotheby's estimates will fetch up to £6million. 

But she has spent years selling his work to support herself and her charitable projects - which the proceeds from the latest sale will help broaden, she says.

The 1920s villa is where Picasso lived with his second wife Jacqueline Roque, who barred Ms Picasso and her brother from the artist's funeral.

Ms Roque shot herself at 59 following Picasso's death in 1973. 

The artist had bought the villa in 1955 and painted one of his most famous works there - The Bay of Cannes. 

But he moved out in 1961 after his view of the sea was blocked by a new building. 

Since Ms Picasso inherited the villa, she has renovated it in 1987, renaming it the 'Pavillon de Flore'. It has since acted as a museum and gallery open to the public.

Earlier this week, Pablo Picasso’s Women Of Algiers became the most expensive painting ever sold at auction when it went for £115million at Christie's in New York. 

(dailymail.co.uk)