In January 1937, Picasso began work on two etchings in which he poured forth a bitter satirical critique of General Franco and the violence being unleashed against Republican Spain, and a denunciation of the suffering of the victims of the country's bloody civil war. Each of the etchingsis composed of nine cartoons, initially intended to beprinted and sold as individual postcards. The artist chose the title "Dream and Lie of Franco" for these aquatints, which went on sale finally (uncut, in a folder with one of his poems) at the Paris International Exposition of that year. "Dream and Lie of Franco", one of the most emblematic works Picassocreated at the time, is the pivotal axisof the exhibition "Cartoons on the Front Line", which explores in depth the connections between the graphic and symbolic language Picasso used hereand the rest of the art and propaganda produced in the context of the Spanish Civil War. The show and the catalogue cast new light on the indissoluble links between Picasso and his work and the society and the time in which he lived.