Hélène Parmelin wrote more than 200 letters and postcards to Pablo Picasso between 1951 and 1967. Author of several works on Pablo Picasso and the partner of the painter Édouard Pignon, she is often portrayed as a hardcore, nostalgic Stalinist and a Soviet tool for manipulating the Spanish painter. The correspondence between Pamelin and Picasso however paints another picture entirely, suggesting a very different relationship. In fact, Pamelin, amongst others, although perhaps the only woman, seems to have been an emissary, a representative, a crucial player in Pablo Picasso’s network. Through her he gained access to what amounts to two historic genres: the Big History, with a Marxist filter, but also the small history, the Parisian gazette, which was also vital for publicising his work and giving him the opportunity to “make history”.