Picasso: Peace and Freedom

Tate Liverpool
21 May to 30 August
Admission £10 (concessions £8)

Little is known of Pablo Picasso's post-war work and an exhibition opening later this month at Tate Liverpool will be the first of its kind to explore the artist's work from the Cold War era.

More than 150 works by Picasso, arguably one of the most influential and prolific artists of the 20th century, gathered from across the world will explore his life as a political activist and peace campaigner, challenging the widely held views that he was merely a creative genius and a playboy.

The exhibition will include paintings and drawings related to war and peace from 1944 to 1973. Its centrepiece is The Charnel House Paris (1944-45), seen as Picasso's most explicitly political piece since Guernica (1937). Other works include Monument to the Spaniards Who Died for France (1945-1947) and The Rape of the Sabine Women (1962).

His work often referenced key historical moments chronicling conflict and a desire for harmony. His Dove of Peace has become the peace movement's universal emblem. His lithograph of the fan-tailed pigeon was used for the poster of the first International Peace Congress held in Paris in 1949.