Picasso lived in France for 40 years but never became a citizen. Why? “When he sought French nationality in 1940, he was turned down on the ground that he was an anarchist with communist tendencies. The extent of French misgivings about Picasso’s politics have just become known with the discovery of the artist’s police files from 1901 to 1940. They were among millions of French documents seized by German occupation forces in 1940 and transferred to Berlin. After the defeat of Germany in 1945, they were taken to Moscow. Only since the collapse of the Soviet Union have they been gradually returned to France.”