P a b l o P i c a s s o
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Picasso stayed on in the little town of Royon until the Germans invaded and overran France in the summer of 1940. Then, despite offers of refuge abroad, he chose to return to Paris, living in the capital all through the Occupation. He remained aloof from the conquerors; when a German officer spotted a photograph of Guernica in his studio and asked 'Did you do that?' Picasso is said to have replied 'No, you did!'
During the war his art was not overtly political, but the oppressiveness of its atmosphere can still be sensed. Aubade combines rather strangely the traditionally pleasant theme, of a lady being serenaded, with a distinct feeling of darkness and claustrophobia; and neither the mandolin player, all cutting edges, nor the nude, all too reminscent of meat on a slab, are happy figures.
After the Liberation, Picasso returned to the vein of Guernica to record the impact of the Nazi death camps in The Charnel House (1944-5).
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Source: Life and Works of Picasso
Further Reading: Biography I
Further Reading: Life of Picasso
Further Reading: Pablo Picasso & Jean Cocteau
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