Customer Reviews

The Essential Pablo Picasso (Essential Series)

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This is an excellent book for those newly interested in Pablo Picasso. It has a thorough history of his life, and a solid sampling of his artwork, not just the most famous examples. The writing style is somewhat informal, which can be good or bad, depending on your tastes. Also, it is a very compact size (about the size and shape of a CD) so it's wonderfully portable, but also pretty short.

When a renowned photographer was asked why Picasso did not attend Henri Matisse's funeral, the reply was: "Because he didn't like death. He didn't like thinking about death......And he thought that if he stopped working, that was death."

Picasso, arguably the artistic giant of this century, seldom stopped working and he lived to be 91. Sometimes he was found working in the nude, enjoying his reputation as an enfant terrible. He had many mistresses, and was the proud, if not doting, father of a number of love children.

A courageous maverick who was constantly exploring new art forms, he was also somber witness to the tragedy of war as is evident in his "Guernica, 1937."

The world may not see his like again, but here is a stunning portrait.