Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio lived the darkest and most dangerous life of any of the great painters. This book presents the readings of Caravaggio's pictures, which show how he created their drama, immediacy and humanity, and how completely he departed from the conventions of his time.
A study of Rene Magritte's basic philosophy and art, and particularly the development of his Surrealist style.
"Great art has dreadful manners," Simon Schama notes at the beginning of his exploration of art's power and purpose. He challenges the notion that masterpieces are merely polite objects, arguing instead that they are aggressive forces that disrupt our reality. This work takes us on an eye-opening journey through eight extraordinary masterpieces, from Caravaggio's David and Goliath to Picasso's Guernica, focusing on pivotal moments in the lives of eight artists who transformed art under extreme pressure. These figures—Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko—faced crises with unwavering resolve, creating works that defied convention and shifted perceptions. Schama's vivid storytelling brings to life the dynamic personalities of these artists and the turbulent times they navigated, from bourgeois Amsterdam to Revolutionary Paris and Civil War Spain. Ultimately, this exploration reveals how these remarkable works of art offer profound insights into our existence, addressing the fundamental question of art's purpose. Through their creation, these masterpieces illuminate the human experience in ways that transcend ordinary understanding.
The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world's surface. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world's greatest empire? And how did they lose it all? This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire-building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence and wild extravagance, and peopled by a cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries and poets. Written with dazzling literary flair, drawing on new archival research, THE ROMANOVS is at once an enthralling chronicle of triumph and tragedy, love and death, a universal study of power, and an essential portrait of the empire that still defines Russia today.