On April 26, 1937 the German Luftwaffe began relentless bombing and machine-gunning of businesses, homes and villages to test a new type of warfare waged from the air, 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 intentional, large-scale attack against a nonmilitary target in modern warfare - outraged the world, and compelled a Spanish painter to respond with artistic fury. Pablo Picasso, an expatriate living in Paris, reacted immediately to the devastation in his homeland by beginning work on the canvas that would become his testament against the horrors of war.

Weaving themes of conflict and redemption, doom and transcendence, and featuring some of the century's most memorable and infamous figures, Martin follows this renowned masterwork from its creation through its journey across decades, from many countries of Europe to America and finally and triumphantly to Spain. Picasso's War is a book that vividly demonstrates how vital art is to human lives and how sometimes it even transfigures tragedy, a story that delivers an unforgettable portrait of an artistic genius whose visionary rendering of the terrible wounds of war still resonates profoundly today.