Picasso: The Self-Portraits

This book is the first dedicated to Picassos self-portraits, which are presented here for the first time. It includes 170 drawings, paintings, and photographs, some from private collections and previously unpublished, charting the evolution of the artist's life and art from 1894 to 1972.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 03 November 2022
Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd

Picasso's self-portraits, previously unseen in private collections, are now presented in a groundbreaking book. Despite the artist's enigmatic nature, this comprehensive volume explores his unwavering self-representation across various mediums, from quick pencil sketches to grand canvases. The project's inception was inspired by Picasso's widow Jacqueline, and renowned art historian Pascal Bonafoux has dedicated over four decades to its research. The book showcases the artist's evolution from a young student to a seasoned Parisian, a vibrant harlequin, a loving husband, and a father. It also captures his final self-portrait, painted just a year before his passing. Comprising approximately 170 drawings, paintings, and photographs, many from private collections and unpublished, this book brings together the attributed self-portraits of a 20th-century art genius for the first time.

Much has been said and written about Picasso's life and art, but until now his self-portraits have never been studied and presented in a single book, perhaps because the artist always left many doubts about his work. However, there is no doubt that Picasso represented himself ceaselessly, whether in a dashed-off pencil sketch, as a flourish at the bottom of a letter, or on a giant canvas.

At the suggestion of Picasso's widow Jacqueline, the distinguished art historian Pascal Bonafoux began researching Picassos self-portraits more than forty years ago. This meticulously researched book presents the fruits of his decades-long project.

From the first attributed painting in 1894 as a thirteen-year-old boy, until Picasso's final self-portrait in 1972, a year before his death, Bonafoux charts the evolution of the artist's life and art. Here is Picasso as a student; as a young bohemian; an impetuous artist in Paris; as harlequin; as lover, husband, and father; and finally, as an old man confronting his mortality.

The book comprises about 170 drawings, paintings, and photographs, some from private collections and previously unpublished, bringing together for the first time the attributed self-portraits of this genius of 20th-century art.

Weight: 1100g
Dimension: 255 x 190 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780500025833