Picasso's War

On April 26, 1937, the Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain was bombed by Hitler's Luftwaffe in the midst of a bloody civil war on behalf of Francisco Franco's rebel forces. Twenty-four hours later, the village lay in ruins, its population decimated.This act of terror and unspeakable crueltythe first large-scale attack against civilians in modern warfareoutraged the world, and one man in particular. Pablo Picasso, and expatriate living in Paris, responded to the devastation in his homeland by creating Guernica, a painting that many today consider the greatest artwork of the 20th century.Weaving themes of politics, art, war, and morality, and spotlighting some of the 20th century's most memorable and infamous figures, Russell Martin follows this renowned masterwork across decades and continents. From Europe to America and finally back to Spain, Picasso's War sheds light on the conflict that was an ominous prelude to World War II and delivers a vivid portrait of a genius whose visionary statement about the horror and terrible wounds of war still resonates today.