For Picasso, the artist's studio was the centre of the world, the crossroads of all that was occurring in his life and in contemporary society. His paintings of the studio range across nearly every aspect of his art, from portraits of himself, his friends, lovers and children, to commentaries on political events, evocations of great artists of the past and allegories of creativity itself. This stunning book focuses on Picasso's depictions of the artist's studio in paintings, drawings and prints throughout his career, showing how he found there his most profound expression of the creative process. Michael FitzGerald discusses Picasso's devotion to the studio as a place where he learned his artistic skills, as a social and intellectual centre where he negotiated with dealers, disputed with critics and seduced lovers, as a site for exploration of the imagination and of essential themes of life and as a place where he confronted the passing of life. The major part of the book analyses numerous relevant paintings and drawings, showing how they relate to developments in Picasso's art or life and to his oeuvre as a whole. William Robinson then focuses on the famed painting La Vie, a scene of an artist and model that is transformed into an allegory of sexual desire and social respectability. This lavishly illustrated book will accompany an exhibition that opens at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, in June 2001 and the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio in October 2001