The remarkable story of the famous painting by Picasso and its diverse meanings from its conception to the present day

'Enthralling ... This is high-action drama, told like the rest within a huge frame of reference, theme interlocked with theme ... A painting which began its life within a particular political context has emerged as a universal statement on the ever-present horror and suffering of war. Van Hensbergen has treated an extraordinary subject admirably' Evening Standard

Of all the great paintings in the world, Picasso's Guernica has had a more direct impact on our consciousness than perhaps any other. In this absorbing and revealing book, Gijs van Hensbergen tells the story of this masterpiece.

Starting with its origin in the destruction of the Basque town of Gernika in the Spanish Civil War, the painting is then used as a weapon in the propaganda battle against Fascism. Later it becomes the nucleus of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the detonator for the Big Bang of Abstract Expressionism in the late 1940s.

This tale of passion and politics shows the transformation of this work of art into an icon of many meanings, up to its long contested but eventually triumphant return to Spain in 1981.

Gijs van Hensbergen is an art historian and Hispanist. In March 2013 he was featured on "God's Architect," a CBS profile of Gaudí's breathtaking Sagrada Familia for 60 Minutes. He has been a fellow at the Harry Ransom Center and the London School of Economics, and lectured all over the world, including at Oxford University, the National Gallery in London, the Prado, and the prestigious summer school at El Escorial. His previous books include Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon and Antoni Gaudí: A Biography.