Picasso au fil des jours: Anecdotal Biography by Pascale Le Thorel-Daviot

Pascale Le Thorel-Daviot's 'Picasso au fil des jours', published by Éditions Buchet-Chastel, offers a lively, anecdotal account of Pablo Picasso rather than a thesis-driven study. The book compiles quotes and stories from illustrious figures including Picasso himself, André Malraux, Jean Cocteau, André Salmon, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Éluard, André Breton, critics Douglas Cooper and Roland Penrose, dealers Ambroise Vollard, Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler, Paul Rosenberg, and Heinz Berggruen, patron Gertrude Stein, secretary Jaime Sabartès, wives Fernande Olivier and Françoise Gillot, and grandchildren Olivier and Marina Picasso. A notable revelation is Picasso's claim that 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' was influenced not by African art but by Iberian statuary, referencing Apollinaire's theft of Iberian statuettes from the Louvre. The narrative unfolds like a psychodrama, resurrecting the great figures of Paris's art capital to evoke the master's anxieties, follies, and illuminations.