Jeanne-Yvette Sudour

This lavish edition comes in three striking color combinations that will be shipped to customers at random. The Musee Picasso Paris, housed in the magnificent Hotel Sale since 1985, includes more than 5,000 pieces, constituting the finest public collection of the artists works ever assembled. This definitive reference, which features an extensive album showcasing more than 450 of Picassos masterpieces, is arranged chronologically and by theme. It traces every stage in the development of his oeuvre, from the Blue Period to his late portrait The Young Painter (1972). The museums authoritative team provides in-depth essays that examine Picassos paintings, as well as his proficiency in all artistic formsfrom sculpture or ceramics to photography, drawing, and engraving. His personal art collection and ephemera from his private archives provide insight into the great twentieth-century artist himself, and the comprehensive tome is completed with a detailed chronology. The greatest works by prolific artist Picasso are reproduced in this massive cloth-bound volume that features a handsome slipcase, ribbon page marker, and is printed on three types of paper to present the diverse artworks to their best advantage.

Picasso's "Les Demoiselles dAvignon" (Museum of Modern Art, New York) dubbed by Pierre Daix as the first painting in modern art represents a milestone in the history of art. Picasso's radical break with tradition was to be a decisive influence on modern visual art. Only after this painting did Picasso, together with Braque, feel able to launch into the Cubist adventure which literally splintered the visual realm; it was to change the face of painting forever by creating a new visual language and an original perspective on the world.