About this Book

This volume is a biography of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). As one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, Picasso is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. In this highly critical portrait, the author paints Picasso as a wretchedly flawed genius, sadistic and treacherous, a liar who betrayed friends and colleagues, and a misogynist who tormented a succession of wives and mistresses. The author draws on several sources for her biography, including interviews with Picasso's daughter, Maya, and Francoise Gilot, his mistress of ten years and the mother of two of his children. This work seizes chiefly on the dark side of genius; Picasso is examined in terms of his personal cruelties.