"On April 26, 1937, in the late afternoon of a busy market day in the Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain, the German Luftwaffe began the relentless bombing and machine-gunning of businesses, homes, and villagers at the request of General Francisco Franco and his rebel forces. Three and a half hours later, the village lay in ruins, its population decimated.".

"This act of terror and unspeakable cruelty - the first deliberate, large-scale attack against a nonmilitary target in modern warfare - outraged the world, and one man in particular. Pablo Picasso, a Spanish expatriate living in Paris, responded immediately to the devastation in his homeland by creating the canvas that would become widely considered the greatest artwork of the twentieth century - Guernica.".

"Weaving themes of conflict and redemption, of the horrors of war and the power of art to transfigure tragedy, Russell Martin follows this renowned masterwork from its fevered inception through its journey across decades and continents - from Europe to America and, finally and triumphantly, to democratic Spain.

Full of historical sweep and deeply moving human drama, Picasso's War features some of the century's most memorable and infamous figures, including Adolf Hitler, Eleanor Roosevelt, George Orwell, and Jackson Pollock, and delivers an unforgettable portrait of an artistic genius and the visionary painting that still resonates profoundly today."--BOOK JACKET.