During his lifetime, Pablo Picasso was often photographed in company with a series of women who served the roles of muse, model, lover, companion and, some of them, the mothers of his children. When Picasso tired of them, they were abandoned, sometimes cruelly, though he usually provided them with a house or means of income.

We recognized them in the portraits and other artistic representations he created of them, while knowing little about them -- save for the few who later wrote about their lives with him.

Now Sue Roe has provided a glimpse into the lives of these remarkable women who not only served the needs of this artistic genius but also inspired and influenced him.

Roe brings them vividly to life, tracing their backgrounds, their experiences with Picasso, their own careers, and the challenges they faced. Roe provides evidence of the influence each had on the various periods of Picasso's work. All of them had talents and careers of their own.

Fernande Olivier, abandoned by her mother at birth, was already in demand as a model and had fled an abusive marriage when Picasso met her. Under his guidance, she also became a painter and helped him find dealers for his work. Fernande eked out a living as a teacher of French and penned a memoir of her life with Picasso before dying in 1966.

When Picasso took the ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova to meet his mother in Barcelona, her future mother-in-law warned against marrying her son. "He's available for himself but no one else." Olga failed to heed that advice, and they married in 1918. The marriage produced a son, but by 1925, Picasso was looking elsewhere.

Marie-Theresa Walter was 17 and Picasso was 45 when they met. She had never heard of him or had any knowledge of art, but she succumbed to his charm. She gave him a daughter. Long after he abandoned her for Dora Maar, Marie-Therese maintained hope he would marry her one day. It was not to be. Dora was a professional photographer and became a respected painter.

Francoise Gilot, another young artist who benefited from his tutelage, made Picasso a father again at the age of 68. She married twice after leaving Picasso (the second time to the scientist Jonas Salk) and may have been the most successful of his painter wives. Jacqueline Roque was the devoted protector of his privacy in the last years of his life.

To me, the major fault with this otherwise excellent biographical work is the lack of illustrations to support the descriptions of the art Picasso was inspired to create by these remarkable women.