Volume III, which is the first volume to include colour illustrations, begins shortly before Picasso's first marriage (to ballerina Olga Khokhova) and his Neo-Classical period. Khokhova is the (presumed) subject of La Danse (1925), "one of Picasso's most profound and mysterious paintings." Indeed, Picasso regarded this as one of his masterpieces: while his mural Guernica is more famous, he "attached more importance to Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and La Danse".
Richardson, a close friend of Picasso's, also wrote and presented the Channel 4 documentary Picasso: Magic, Sex, & Death (2001). He has curated several major Picasso exhibitions, including Picasso: The Mediterranean Years (2010); his essay for the Mediterranean Years exhibition catalogue is effectively a preview of the forthcoming volume IV of his Picasso biography.
Hundreds of books have been written about Picasso. Three monographs stand out as authoritative surveys of his entire oeuvre: Picasso (by Wilhelm Boeck and Jaime Sabartes; with original cover illustrations by Picasso himself), Pablo Picasso (by Carsten-Peter Warncke; originally published in two volumes), and The Ultimate Picasso (by Brigitte Leal, Christine Piot, and Marie-Laure Bernadac; reissued as Picasso: The Monograph, 1881-1973).