Man Ray met Picasso in Paris the 1920s, and the two artists quickly became friends. He wrote: ‘Picasso gave me the impression of a man who was aware of all that was going on about him and in the world in general, a man who reacted violently to all impacts, but had only one outlet to express his feelings: painting’ (Self Portrait, p, 177). The intensity and awareness that Man Ray describes is masterfully captured in the definitive portrait of the painter offered here.