In those days of prosperity, at the end of the 19th century, when everything seemed possible and achievable everywhere, Einstein and Picasso made no distinction between their personal and professional lives. From a single cauldron, ideas flowed that set everything we call modern in motion.

This captivating parallel biography of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso at a young age focuses on the spirit of the times and their greatest achievements: Einstein's theory of relativity and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the painting that introduced art to the twentieth century.

These astonishing groundbreaking creations came at a time when Einstein and Picasso were not the distinguished figures they later became so familiar. They were still not yet thirty, unknown, brawlers, dirt poor, and prone to trouble.

For a time, Picasso even carried the playwright Alfred Jarry's blank-firing pistol and shot at people he found excessively boring or serious. The most important scientist and the greatest artist of the twentieth century reached the height of their creativity almost simultaneously and under strikingly similar conditions.

Many sense a connection between Einstein and Picasso, but few possess the knowledge to explore this relevance in depth.