Picasso's granddaughter sues author over slanderous lies

London, June 14 (ANI): Pablo Picasso's granddaughter is suing an author for claiming that her brother Pablito once tried to burgle his grandfather's home under the influence of drugs.

The case, which will highlight the tragic legacy of one of the greatest figures in 20th-century art in a Paris court, is the fourth by Picasso relatives against Pepita Dupont.

Through the case, Marina Picasso is defending the name of her brother, who killed himself by drinking bleach.

In the book The Truth About Jacqueline and Pablo Picasso, Dupont's challenges the "wicked stepmother" image that has clung to Jacqueline, the painter's last wife.

The image arose from the fact that she prevented Picasso's children and grandchildren from attending his funeral in 1973.

The very next day Pablito drank a bottle of bleach and died, reports The Times.

Marina blames Jacqueline for the death.

Dupont said: "It's very sad that he killed himself, but Pablito's depression was not just because he could not see his grandfather."

Opposed to stepchildren's account of Jacqueline "kidnapping" Picasso to keep him away from them, Dupont claims she loved them as her own.

Relations soured only when Claude and Paloma, Picasso's children by Françoise Gilot, whom he never married, took him to court to be recognised as legitimate heirs.

"She was simply following Picasso's instructions when she ordered them not to come to the funeral," said Dupont. (ANI)