Pablo Picasso famously said that art is not done to decorate apartments - it's an instrument of war.
He used that instrument of war to promote peace but he also used it to capture the essence of people, an ability highlighted in a major new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
It's a rare exhibition of Picasso's friends', lovers', wives' and children's portraits under one roof, many of which have never been seen in the UK.
For his granddaughter Diana Widmaier-Picasso it's a timely show of Picasso's love of life - and his passion for peace over conflict.
"In the exhibition you see different moments of his life, including the great portraits of my grandmother," she says.
"This was an opportunity for him to have someone represent peace. In fact, he uses figure on many occasions, and it's striking to see how important peace was to someone like him."
Before 1937, Picasso had not used his art for political expression. But the bombing of the Basque Country town of Guernica before World War II changed that.
It inspired one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history, and Picasso's 'Dove' went on to become a powerful symbol for peace campaigners around the globe.
But it was perhaps the artist's many muses who offered him escapism.
Sylvette, real name Lydia Corbett, inspired 50 of his works. She was 19 when she first spotted by the artist and she is now Picasso's only surviving muse.
"He was quite a spiritual man, really," she says.
"When we sat in his studio, it was like being in another world of quiet and peace."
Picasso may have chronicled the struggles of the early part of the 20th century, but his works and message of peace are no less pertinent today.
ITV News
