Pablo Ruiz Picasso was the most prolific artist in the history of Western art. Born in 1881 in Malaga, southern Spain, he spent almost all of his life in France, dying in 1973. In more than seven decades as an artist, Picasso finished 2000 oil paintings, along with innumerable sculptures, ceramics, collages, prints, photographs, drawings, and jewelry designs.

This new book, drawing extensively on the most recent research, provides an overview of the whole range of Picasso's art and career. Uniquely, it takes a thematic approach, examining Picasso and poetry, Picasso and war, Picasso and "disfigurement" - the fragmentation of the human form in his work - Picasso and play, and Picasso's ruminations on the figure of the artist. The introduction looks at Picasso himself, and the myths that surround him, concluding that it is impossible to disentangle the man from his legend. Separate sections include extracts from Picasso's poetry and writings and from critics both contemporary and historical.

Functioning both as an introduction for those coming fresh to Picasso's work and bringing new insights to those already familiar with his career, this important yet accessible book is one of the most significant additions to Picasso literature in recent years.