Claude Ruiz Picasso, the younger son of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, has died in Switzerland aged 76, his lawyer told AFP on Thursday.

He did not give the cause of death.

Ruiz Picasso managed the Picasso estate from 1989 to July 2023, when he handed over responsibility to his sister, Paloma.

Picasso had four children.

His elder son, Paul, from his marriage to ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova, died in 1975. Maya, his daughter with French model Marie-Therese Walter, died in 2022.

Claude and Paloma were his children with French artist Francoise Gilot.

Ruiz Picasso is survived by his wife Sylvie Vautier and their two children, lawyer Jean-Jacques Neueur said.

The Picasso estate manages works held by several of his children and grandchildren.

The organisation holds a monopoly on the copyright of Picasso's works, as well as reproduction and trademark rights.

It issues authentication certificates and fights forgeries, regularly taking legal action.