I went to the Musée Picasso today to see the exhibition of work by Picasso that was inspired by his daughter Maya. It was amazing to see how much she had been the subject of his work. They were incredibly close and that intimacy comes through in so many of the paintings.

My favourite pieces were the cut-outs, dolls, and cardboard figurines that he made for Maya during the war. The toys he assembled, recycling material from his studio such as wire, wood, fabric, nails was his way of distracting his daughter from the dark days of the German occupation. I think that limitless creative energy and inventiveness is what most strikes me when walking through room after room of his creations.

The first time I went to the museum was over thirty years ago when I was backpacking through Europe at the age of 21. It was much smaller then. Retracing my footsteps, thinking about myself as a young art student fresh off the plane from Canada, I find it hard to believe that I have lived in France now for 20 years. That young art student would never have believed that she would one day make her home in a town to the west of Paris, and raise her family in France.