The first book devoted to Picasso's self-portraits, many of them belonging to private collections and published here for the first time.

Much has been said and written about Picasso's life and work, but until now his self-portraits have never been studied and presented in a single book, perhaps because the artist always left so many unknowns about his work. However, there is no doubt that Picasso tirelessly depicted himself, whether in a quick pencil sketch, as an embellishment at the end of a letter or on a large canvas.

At the suggestion of Picasso's widow Jacqueline, the distinguished art historian Pascal Bonafoux began researching the artist's self-portraits more than forty years ago. This meticulously documented book presents the fruits of his extensive study.

From the first attributed painting in 1894, when he was thirteen, to his last self-portrait in 1972, a year before his death, Bonafoux traces the evolution of Picasso's life and art.

Here we find Picasso as a student; as a young bohemian; as a brash artist in Paris; as a harlequin; as a lover, husband and father; and, finally, as an old man facing his mortality.

The book brings together some 170 drawings, paintings and photographs, some from private collections and some never before published, offering for the first time a compendium of the self-portraits of this genius of 20th-century art.

Publisher: Thames and Hudson