Picasso: Challenging the Past

This thought-provoking book presents a lively introduction to the 20th century's most important artist, Pablo Picasso. Picasso was a passionate student of the European painting tradition, and his memory for images was voracious. Naturally drawn to Spanish masters Velázquez and Goya, he also engaged with such figures as Rembrandt, Delacroix, Ingres, Manet, and Cézanne. Picasso repeatedly pitted himself against these masters, taking up their signature themes, techniques, and artistic concerns in audacious paintings of his own. Sometimes his "quotations" were direct, other times highly allusive.
Always, Picasso made the implicit case that it was he in the 20th century who most forcefully reinvigorated the European tradition. This book showcases his extraordinary work, where we witness the daring transformation of the art of the past into, in Picasso's own words, "something else entirely."

Published by the National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

Elizabeth Cowling is professor emeritus of History of Art at Edinburgh University. Neil Cox is professor of art and theory at the University of Essex. Simonetta Fraquelli is an independent art historian. Susan Grace Galassi is curator at the Frick Collection, New York. Christopher Riopelle is Curator and Anne Robbins is Assistant Curator of Post-1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, London.