Rebecca West wrote appreciation of Picasso’s La Comedie Humaine, “A short time ago there occurred what is perhaps the most extraordinary artistic event of the 20th century. In 1953, at the age of 72, Picasso had opened his sketchbook and begun a drawing frenzy, which was to last 9 weeks. Sometimes fiercely, often with humour, always with the profound wisdom of the great artist, Picasso reconsiders his perennial themes. The artist and his model become Man and Woman and are then generalised into the self and non self as a great artist bares his innermost feelings."