"When you draw, you are at the heart of the world, and the more you draw, the more deeply you enter existence".

Balthus is the master of the erotic image. His sexually-charged paintings and drawings of pubescent girls express two prominent qualities of the surreal state: the dreaming and the erotic. Drawing has always played a central role in his oeuvre, yet this is the first publication dedicated solely to his graphic work.

Balthus' drawings are much more than simple preparatory works for paintings, or formal sketches to establish a composition. Whether in pencil, ink, charcoal, pastel or watercolour, they have their own special qualities: a rare fluidity of line, a gentle caress of light and shade, an evocative stillness.

This beautifully-produced volume includes nudes, portraits, still lifes, landscapes and sketches, and combines quotes by the artist and a poetic text by the novelist Jean-Pierre Faye, offering an exceptional insight into this essential if little-known aspect of the work of a major twentieth century artist.