"Picasso considered all of his works to be entries in his diary; he excluded nothing. The sketchbooks are generic chapters inextricable from his oeuvre. In Picasso's paintings the spontaneity of gesture is deceptive since the manner is which he leaves his tracks visible superficially suggests minimal preparation. Although most of Picasso's solutions appear to be immediately worked out on the canvas, this was far from the fact. Many paintings sprang fully formed as the fulfillment of preconscious models, but very often others were the product of the process of trial solution and discovery through drawing. There are eight sketchbooks for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, five for the saltimbanques, four for the Luncheon on the Grass series, and two for The rape of the Sabines. In sketchbook No. 171, Picasso inscribed: "La peinture est plus forte que moi elle me fait faire ce qu'elle veut" ("Painting is stronger than I am; it makes me do what it wants"). The sketchbook itself is the statement's validation."--Publisher.