John Richardson: A Life of Picasso IV: The Minotaur Years, 1933–1943

Set in France and Spain during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, the fourth and final volume of John Richardson’s definitive biography of Pablo Picasso covers the artist’s friendships with the Surrealist painters; artistic inspiration around Guernica and the motif of the minotaur; his muses Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, and Françoise Gilot; and much more. The book includes 271 illustrations and original and exhaustive research drawing from interviews and never-before-seen material in the Picasso family archives.

As in the previous volumes, Richardson tells Picasso’s story through the work he made during the decade in question, analyzing how it shows what the artist was feeling and thinking. The fascinating and accessible narrative immerses readers in one of the most exciting moments in twentieth-century cultural history, and brings to a close this critically acclaimed account of the life of one of the world’s most celebrated artists.