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Table of Contents
About The Book
A story of friendship, love, and the pursuit of art—including Pablo Picasso, Lee Miller, Paul Éluard, and Man Ray—set against the precarious backdrop of the late 1930s, World War II, and its aftermath.
“Thomasson captures the creative and sexual ferment of the group of talented free spirits—Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar, Man Ray, the photographer Lee Miller and the poet Paul Éluard among them—who took over the hotel in the summer of 1937, in an exuberant last gasp of artistic abandon as World War II loomed.”—The New York Times Book Review
Late summer 1937. Europe is inching toward war. In the South of France a group of friends picnic in a secluded clearing. The women have peeled down their dresses to their waists. Shoes have been cast aside. A couple kiss playfully while the others look on, laughing. The moment is captured in a now-iconic image by photographer Lee Miller.
Some of the friends—the dancer Ady Fidelin, the poet Paul Éluard and his wife Nusch, the Surrealists Man Ray and Roland Penrose—are well-known, others less so. They are spending the summer at the Hôtel Vaste Horizon in Mougins with fellow artists Dora Maar, Eileen Agar, and Pablo Picasso.
In this evocative setting, biographer Anna Thomasson traces the group’s individual and intertwined lives through the photographs they took, the art they made, and the poems and letters they wrote. From the heady, fertile weeks of creativity, sex, and collaboration of that Mediterranean summer through the tumultuous years that followed, this is the story of rebellious lives and the redemptive power of art.
“Thomasson captures the creative and sexual ferment of the group of talented free spirits—Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar, Man Ray, the photographer Lee Miller and the poet Paul Éluard among them—who took over the hotel in the summer of 1937, in an exuberant last gasp of artistic abandon as World War II loomed.”—The New York Times Book Review
Late summer 1937. Europe is inching toward war. In the South of France a group of friends picnic in a secluded clearing. The women have peeled down their dresses to their waists. Shoes have been cast aside. A couple kiss playfully while the others look on, laughing. The moment is captured in a now-iconic image by photographer Lee Miller.
Some of the friends—the dancer Ady Fidelin, the poet Paul Éluard and his wife Nusch, the Surrealists Man Ray and Roland Penrose—are well-known, others less so. They are spending the summer at the Hôtel Vaste Horizon in Mougins with fellow artists Dora Maar, Eileen Agar, and Pablo Picasso.
In this evocative setting, biographer Anna Thomasson traces the group’s individual and intertwined lives through the photographs they took, the art they made, and the poems and letters they wrote. From the heady, fertile weeks of creativity, sex, and collaboration of that Mediterranean summer through the tumultuous years that followed, this is the story of rebellious lives and the redemptive power of art.
Product Details
- Publisher: Pegasus Books (July 7, 2026)
- Length: 304 pages
- ISBN13: 9798897101528
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Raves and Reviews
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
“Instead of straight history, A Vast Horizon takes the ingenious form of a scrapbook or collage, alternating evocative descriptions of photos and paintings with capsule profiles of the figures they depict and the artists who made them. It’s an approach befitting the book’s subjects — most of them Surrealists, after all — and enhanced by the author’s keen eye and loose-limbed prose."
– Emily Eakin, The New York Times Book Review
“One of those multi-character true stories that scratch the “I should have been born in a different generation” itch. In this case, the generation is lost, but the characters are brilliant: Picasso, Man Ray, Dora Maar, Lee Miller.”
– Kate Tuttle, the Boston Globe
"Drawing on letters, memoirs, artworks and hundreds of photos, Thomasson captures the creative and sexual ferment of the group of talented free spirits — Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar, Man Ray, the photographer Lee Miller and the poet Paul Éluard among them — who took over the hotel in the summer of 1937, in an exuberant last gasp of artistic abandon as World War II loomed."
– The New York Times Book Review
“British biographer Thomasson creates a vibrant portrait of an international group of artists, as well as their lovers and friends, who lived and worked in France just before and during World War II. As she creates capsule biographies of each individual, Thomasson explores themes of friendship and creativity, love, and desire. Structuring her book as a “collage,” she juxtaposes biographical fragments, letters, and descriptions to create the portrait of an age in which artists ardently believed that “acts of creativity were a powerful weapon in the fight for freedom.” A vivid cultural history.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“Thomasson convincingly draws out the destabilizing effects of wartime on artists’ lives and work, offering insights into the interplay between art, life, and political uncertainty during a volatile age.”
– Publishers Weekly
Early Praise for A Vast Horizon:
“History in which deep ocean currents flow through individual lives. A compelling read.”
– Michael Bird, author of This Is Tomorrow: Twentieth-Century Britain and its Artists
“At once intimate and expansive, A Vast Horizon layers real upon surreal to build a fascinating portrait of art, war and life.”
– Clare Mulley, author of Agent Zo
“Beginning with a single, tantalizing photograph, Anna Thomasson weaves a fascinating story around nine figures in the Surrealist movement. Beautifully told, wonderfully interesting and hugely informative."
– David Boyd Haycock, author of Brilliant Destiny: The Age of Augustus John
“An enviable lightness of touch. This chapter in the history of human and artistic relations has never been better recounted.”
– Andrew Lambirth, co-author of A Look at My Life
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Hardcover 9798897101528
