After Picasso's death in 1973, his widow Jacqueline Roque asked André Malraux to accompany her in managing the painter's estate. During a visit to Notre-Dame-de-Vie, the novelist and politician discovered the artist's final residence and studio, as well as the entire collection of works he had personally gathered over the years. Malraux thus gained access to the painter's artistic approach and to a portion of his imaginary museum.
From this visit was born La tête d'obsidienne, a collection of romanticized memories and conversations in which Malraux recalls his relationship with Picasso, which took root in their shared commitment to the Spanish Civil War. Yet, although Malraux makes Picasso a central figure of his Musée Imaginaire, Picasso almost never mentions the novelist. Consequently, La Tête d'obsidienne sheds less light on the real friendship between Picasso and Malraux than on the latter's relationship to the painter's work, through contact with which he refined his own theories.