1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die

by Stephen Farthing (Editor)

From Ancient Egyptian frescoes to the Renaissance masters, from French Impressionists to American Abstract Expressionists, this highly browsable guide embraces all cultures and every style of painting from 4,000 BC to the present. A visually arresting reference for art lovers and students, it provides a truly comprehensive worldwide gazeteer of paintings organized chronologically by date of completion. Each entry includes the history of the painting, information about the artist or artistic movement, the current location of the painting (all are on view to the public), as well as other details. The works are also indexed by artist and by title, making for easy cross-referencing. Included are popular paintings, key works that are the most breathtaking for their extraordinary power and beauty, paintings that were turning points in the history of art, and rediscovered masterpieces, making 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die an art museum in its own right.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Reference, History, Art History, Visual Art, Cultural

960 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Stephen Farthing is an artist, an elected member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and an Emeritus Fellow of St. Edmund Hall, the University of Oxford.

Reviews

[پگاه · Rating 4 out of 5]

خب راستش من این رو کامل کامل تموم نکردم :)) یعنی همه نقاشیاش رو دیدم؛ ولی همه توضیحاتش رو نخوندم.

خب نمی‌تونم بگم که سلکشن خیلی جالبی بود از نقاشی‌ها. ولی خیلی خیلی چیزهای خوب داشت. مخصوصا اون‌ها که خیلی قدیمی بودن.
چیزیش که به نظرم خیلی خوب بود توضیحاتی بود که زیر نقاشی‌ها داده بود. من هر نقاشی ای که جالبم بود توضیحاتش رو می‌خوندم و خیلی درست و به اندازه بودن. این طور نبود که شروع کنه توضیح دادن درمورد این که فلان چیز نماد بهمان چیز است و نقاش در این نقاشی سعی داشته فلان و بیسار رو نشون بده. واقعا اینفورم می‌کرد آدم رو درمورد نقاش و زمانی که نقاشی کشیده شده و اطلاعات و یا داستان‌های مربوط.
قطعا خارج که برم دلم براش تنگ می‌شه چون هر از چندی می‌رم و ورقش می‌زنم و دوباره نگاه می‌کنم چیزهاش رو.
اگر کسی می‌خواد قرضش می‌دم ولی واقعا باید سالمش نگه داره چون کادوی بی‌اندازه باارزشی برام بوده.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The editors and contributors are clear: this book is not an attempt to present to us a subjective list of the very best paintings in the world. However, it does attempt to offer a retrospective of the history of paintings. That's a fine goal, but there are problems:
1) The editor states that only hand-painted work is included. Thus, wall paintings from Egyptian tombs are represented, but we don't see a single pre-historic cave painting, for example, and those in France and in other places are certainly among the paintings I'd most like to see.
2) Every single painting receives either A) a full page with the painting on top and exactly half a page of notes below it or B) pages are split and we see two paintings at the top, with exactly a quarter page of notes for each painting. The contributors go to great lengths to "fill up" their specifically allotted space for notes, and these notes are often repetitious and/or irrelevant.
3) Because all of the paintings are reduced in size, it's impossible in some cases to find the details noted by the contributors. That's very frustrating. It's a nice fantasy that we're all going to seek out the paintings we love so that we can see them live, but that's simply, indeed, a fantasy. It's almost as if the contributor is saying to the reader: "I'm going to talk about something you can't possibly see here," and it feels insulting.
But on the plus side:
1) I found paintings I'd never seen that for me are simply stupendous. For example, Velazquez's "Christ on the Cross" is breathtaking. Kurzweil's "Woman in a Yellow Dress" is simply beautiful. Schiele's "The Embrace" is highly erotic and his technique is one-of-a-kind. Durer's "Self Portrait With Gloves" presents to us a very handsome and oddly modern-looking man dressed sumptuously: it's as if we are looking at a rock star in a period costume. Jansson's "Ring Gymnast #2" positions a male body in a highly unusual position. And Hoogstraten's interiors, specifically "The Slippers" invite one in to look for the unseen people in the house. There are some paintings I didn't particularly care for, but I have no background in art education (I can't tell the difference in neoexpressionism and just plain ol' expressionism, but I do know about dots and drips and cubes.)
2) The high-quality Architectural Digest slickness of the pages is a joy to handle.
3) This is a great source to study the history of fashion and manners and of class struggles and of many great historical events. I've never thought about the following previously, but here goes: for most of art history, 99.9% of art is of people, or landscapes or still lives that did exist or could very well have existed. Then suddenly photography is invented, and off we go into "modern" art. Such a simple and obvious event took painting in a wonderful new direction.
And I've saved the best for last: every word written about a painting is on the very same page as the painting itself! if you've read/perused a number of art books, you know that you sometimes have to spend more time finding the painting discussed than enjoying the painting itself.
All in all, a fine introduction to the world of art. I enjoyed it, hence my three-star rating.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great thing about this “must” book is that as you read you do get to see the paintings, sort of. I usually have a lot of issues with “must” or “best” books, but at least here you get to see the “must” even though not the originals, at full size, or in a museum.

The paintings are presented chronologically. Each painting is captioned by its name, artist (if known), date or era, type, and current home/location. Then, there is a text section of additional information too.

It's a very interesting mini-art history lesson.

It’s fun to see many paintings housed in far off places I’m unlikely to ever be able to visit, but while reading this book, I found many museums I’d like to visit.

As I read the early sections, I did wish many artists had gotten their inspiration from something other than Christianity/religion. Still, the entire book was very interesting; it was fascinating to view this artwork in chronological order.

I'm finding artists and paintings new to me and also viewing many I've previously enjoyed while learning more about them. Much to enjoy here; I overall enjoyed some of the later works even more than the very early paintings. I was very happy when I got to the 1800s.

I’ve traveled some so I’ve seen a significant number of these paintings in their home museums, but luckily paintings are often better traveled than I am, and so I’ve seen even more at my home town museums, as part of traveling exhibitions.

I’m surprised by how many of these “must see” paintings are held in private collections. Luckily, most wealthy art owners also lend out their owned paintings to museums and other locations where the public has the opportunity to view them for limited periods of time.

While this is an enjoyable art history lesson, some "important" paintings are missing and some paintings are included that puzzle me. And I’m perplexed about why certain paintings and not others by artists such as Klee and O’Keefe and Matisse and even Diebenkorn, etc. were included, or not.

Where are some of "my" paintings?! Fascinating read though, and feels like making many museum visits, which was fun.

I read only through page 941 (except I did read the Contributors information); I didn’t read the Glossary, Artists Index, or the Photo Credits. The latter would need a strong magnifying glass in order to read that list.

I have to look up more of Stephen Farthing’s work. I really liked the one included painting of his, even before I noticed he was a major contributor to the book.

It was sometimes difficult to read the information about the paintings I found hideously ugly. At times I did speed read through those, although for some I read carefully as I was curious about why they were included in this book.

This was way too heavy a book to bring out of the apartment to read on the go, so I read it all at home, and some of it, I admit, while also watching television.

I suppose this was an easy and fast read given how quickly this slow reader was able to get through so many pages.

Contents:

Preface
Introduction
Title Index

Pre-1400
1400s
1500s
1600s
1700s
1800s
1900s
2000s

Glossary
Artist Index
Contributors
Photo Credits
Acknowledgments

Under pre-1400:
Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Art
Byzantine
Medieval and Gothic Art
Frescoes and Encaustic Painting

Under 1400s:
Early Renaissance Italian and Flemish Art
Linear Perspectives in Art
Humanism
Exploration of the New World
Naturalism

Under 1500s:
High Renaissance Art
Islamic Ateliers and Mughai Miniatures
Calligraphy
Mannerism
First Widespread Use of Canvas

Under 1600s:
Baroque
Classicism
Genre Painting
Still Lifes
Dutch Masters

Under 1700s:
Rococo
Neoclassicism
Romanticism
Academic Art
Enlightenment

Under 1800s:
Romanticism versus Realism
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
Symbolism
Fin de Siécle

Under 1900s:
Art Nouveau
Fauvism and Cubism
Surrealism
Abstract Expressionism
Modernism

Under 2000s:
Eco Art
Neo-Modernism
Avant-Pop
Humanitarian Art
Symbiotic Art

[David Haggett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Farthing presents a sampling of paintings from prehistoric to modern times (until 2006). Though the paintings tends to reflect Western civilization, there are selections that show an appreciation of worldwide art.

As usual, my review reflects what I found in this volume, and I pleased to say I found some new artists and works of arts.

[Blog on Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

From a series inspired, no doubt, by Patricia Schultz’s ever-so-popular travel tome, “1000 Places To See Before You Die” (one of our 2003 favorites!), artist and UK art professor Stephen Farthing has assembled a magnificant collection of paintings spanning from 1420 BC to 2006 AD. While one may pick up this 960 page tableweight (some are two to a page) looking for their favorite painters or paintings, you actually come away from it with an expanded curiosity for that which you don’t know more than that which you do.

While purusing the work of art icons like Titian, Rubens, Goya, daVinci, Picasso, Wyeth, Johns, et al, one is also struck by the stories behind the paintings as well as their historical relationships to each other and the times from which they came. (For example, the first quarter of the book is dominated by religious iconography from Italy yet the book ends quite up-to-date with famed street artist Banksy and Chinese modernist Zhao Bo.) Did you know that though painted in 1503, the title ‘Mona Lisa’ was not officially used until the 19th Century when the identity of the subject, Lisa Gherardini, was revealed by Vasari? Farthing and his eighty-four contributors have created a stunning overview, though even with it’s 1001 entries, still leaves out many of the world’s most famous works in the name of expanding the historical purvue.

While the task of actually seeing more than a fraction of this work (some still reside in private collections though most are within museum reach) seems nearly impossible, the book alone acts as a travelogue revealing the stories behind the painters and the paintings one often only gets to experience when they are actually at an exhibition. Comforting to know, I suppose, that one need not travel to the National Gallery in Oslo, Norway to know that on one copy of his iconic, ‘The Scream”, Edvard Munch actually wrote, “Could only have been painted by a madman.” In fact, the best place to see all 1001 paintings may very well be in this book.

[Literary Ames · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I ordered this I didn’t expect it to be so compact. It’s very thick, almost like a bible. The paintings are organised by date from 1375BC to 2006 AD. On each page is the painting at the top with the title, date, type of painting (e.g. oil on canvas), size dimensions and the painting’s location underneath as well as a description which sometimes includes titbits about the artist and places the painting in a socio-historical context. There is even a helpful glossary of art terms and indexes of the titles and artists featured. My only problem with this book is the size of the paintings; some of them are too small to see the detail mentioned in the descriptions.

Due to its fairly expansive nature and as a complete novice when it comes to art, I now feel I have a better idea of what kind of paintings I like and dislike. Most of the early paintings contain religious and mythological imagery with a few commissioned works of royalty, the later ones tend to be more political and abstract. I preferred the earlier works, I could have done without most of the modern paintings.

I’ve learned a lot from just this one book, though I did notice that the majority of the paintings were by male European artists.

[Jon Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I go to an art museum I generally only look at the "contemporary"/late 20th century stuff and I first picked up this book to look at the same thing. But I started glancing through the older paintings and realized how amazing some of them really were. I thought, if some of these paintings were just being made today they would still shake up the art world. I became curious about the lives and stories behind these older paintings that I didn't know much about. The book has your Leonardos and Mona Lisa's and the like but there are also lots of amazing paintings and painters that I have never seen or heard of. The paintings are predominately by Western/European/American males but there are also many paintings from other parts of the world and paintings by women dating back to before you would have thought (and they don't come across like "tokens"). Some of the more modern/contemporary choices seem a bit questionable to me though. Not necessarily the choice of artists (though there are some gaps) but more the choice of the particular painting to represent that artist sometimes seems a bit off. Great "democratic" layout and very well researched.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that I've seen them all (at least in the book) I guess I can die. I didn't see one I was willing to "die" for; however, I learned a tremendous amount about art through the ages. Beginning with art from 1420-1375 BC and continuing through works done in 2006 AD you come away with a pretty good understanding of how art has changed and how it has remained the same--at least until the development of the camera. That changed everything. Each work includes a brief explanation of the artist and the work. It's a book you meander through and then go back and reveiw favorites. I learned a great deal about Catholic concepts, history, mental illness, kinds of paint, myths, history, and people. Some of the photographs really don't do justice to the works. Others are remarkably good. There have been some amazing artists over the centuries.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this in the library, and who could pass up such a title? I did look at every painting, but only read the descriptions that interested me. Descriptions are very well written by multiple writers! The book begins with the 15th century, and is somewhat international. I loved finding artists I did not know, such as Vincent Desiderio, a conceptualist working in oil and Malcolm Morley, winner of the Turner Prize long ago. However, the only century I could judge (21st), seemed very repetitive (multiple paintings from David Hockney), but maybe that is the message: once you arrive at the last 13 years, who knows?

[Lucy Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept searching for a free PDF of this book, since it was not one of those books I could just borrow on Overdrive. After extended periods of time searching, I got an account on Archive.org and was able to find and borrow it. Art critics and sleep-deprived readers who have been searching for this book to no avail---please do not go through the torture of searching. You can actually find the book for free here. Just use the website and save some time and energy. Why am I trying to save you from the extended periods of searching I had to go through? First, this book provides good insight into the art world that all people should be able to easily access, and second, it is not worth going through the trouble of looking for a book only to find repetitive and *coughs* unpleasant paintings.

As implied by the title, 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die is a compilation of 1001 paintings that are believed to be worth seeing. An image of the painting would be inserted, and a paragraph containing analysis and contextual explanation would be added for clarity as to why the paintings are worth seeing.

The book is not necessarily "good," and you can see it in my mediocre-atrocious shelf, but I thought the artistic analysis in the book was inspiring. The contributors to this book usually provided analysis about perspective, color, shape, and even math and anatomy that really exemplified the open-endedness, thoroughness, and critical thinking involved in art. Analyzing a piece of art might even have almost as much intellectual thought as analyzing a book!

As well as the artistic analysis, the historical analysis was also stimulating. Some contributors were able to use the visuals of a painting to see its relationship with the styles of other painters, like Picasso, or with common movements, like Neoclassism.

The excellent and inspiring artistic and historical analysis were what helped me persist upon reading this book.

With the positives, I believed that there was a lack of variety, geographically and ideologically. I noticed that a lot of the art had European roots, and so I would not see much art from other geographies. Additionally, a lot of artworks tended to have recurring Christian themes, particularly the birth of Jesus and the crucifixion (or events that led to the crucifixion) of Jesus. This became repetitive. If there were to be 1001 paintings I must see before I die, I would not like them to be narrowly skewed, since I would aspire to make the most out of life, instead of living my life on a narrow pathway. However, variety gradually became a smaller problem for me, since there were different time frames being applied. Art in the 2000s was showcased in the book, so there was a greater variety, geographically and ideologically. Art from Aboriginal people was shown as well, which was nice, since it is easy to marginalize the Aboriginal communities even today. There was still a consistent lack of variety; it was not as much of an issue, but I do not let it go unacknowledged.

The strongest criticism I have for this book is the amount of nudity and sexual references. This is all purely subjective, and perhaps it is unfair to assess this based on nudity and sexual content, since real life artists really did paint nudes and erotica, but personally, I feel uncomfortable about nudity and sexual references. It is not the author's fault; it is just something about me. The terms "sensual," "erotic," and "sex/sexual" were used in this book way too much for my taste. (BTW there was a painting of a woman's vagina. I swore out loud when I saw it. Does anyone not think a painting like that is disturbing?) I suppose this more of a philosophical than an artistic statement. This is completely personal, but I do not think nudity is qualified to be included in art. I just don't. I think there is too much of a focus on body image, and having a painting intended to stimulate sexual desire seems to distract from other artistic qualities I (personally) find to be more important, such as color, shape, positioning, geometry, historical context, mimesis, abstraction, etc. Plus, porn and erotica naturally don't work for me. That stuff just makes me want to cry and vomit. I honestly think stuff like porn sort of lets people treat each other like objects TBH, and I do not think people should use art as a means to allow people to continue treating each other like objects and eye candy instead of actual human beings. Adding the nudity in there, to me, is like allowing that stuff to perpetuate, which is just messed up. Long story short: the nudity and erotica were pure torture for me.

Referring back to the positive side, there were some lovely paintings in the collection. I liked the painting called Still Life with Lemons, Oranges, and a Rose. The painting was well-textured, the artist intelligently modeled the three-dimensionality of the citrus fruits, and he strategically used the dark background and rich brown table to allow the eye to focus on the bright, intricately illustrated fruits. I also liked the painting of the hare that was made by Albrecht Durer. I can never draw an image like that LOL.

The artistic and historical analysis was valuable, and I would like to apply the skills the contributors manifested to review of one of Maria Sibylla Merian's books I hopefully can borrow for free. It was just that the lack of variety and the overwhelming sex and nudity distracted me from the pleasure I thought I would acquire.

[Cary Neeper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing collection of small reproductions, one or two to a page, each with a short history of the painter and comments about the painting. It is unlike any other view of history--seen through the eyes of recognized artists of every type of painting and world view. The chronological order of the paintings provides the orientation needed to understand the passions of each age from the 1400s though part of the 2000s. I'm flagging the paintings that strike me as inspiring or striking, and there are more than a few.

[David Clifton · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than a coffee table book, this book gives a brief history of each picture and artist. As with all "best of" or "greatest" lists, many of the choices are open to debate about their inclusion. However, I am not an art aficionado, but I found this book easy to read and appreciated how it explained why each painting is important.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the Egyptian art, and all of the older styles. The more modern art doesn't really interest me.

[Bear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not being able to travel the world on a librarian's salary, this was a pretty good chance to see paintings (on a Very Small Scale) that I would love to see in person.

[Ali Noroozian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evil takes root and flourishes in societies where art and freedom of expression are censored.

"The Man with the Golden Helmet" painting was attributed to Rembrandt for several years. During the 1980s, some pieces of evidence revealed that the painting was not by Rembrandt. After this disclosure, the painting lost its artistic and economic value, even though the artwork itself had not changed!

In the artistic world, artists' relationships lead to the construction of a network that affects individuals' commercial or artistic success and defines the artwork's value. Since the quality of art cannot be assessed, the importance of painting depends on factors outside of its value, such as the name of the artist, their artistic background, and a network of experts, curators, collectors, and art historians whose judgment on artwork is the gateway to the world's leading galleries and museums. It is why Maurizio Cattelan was able to sell a painting for $120,000, consisting of a banana taped on a wall in Art Basel Miami Beach!

The reason for writing this introduction is due to the twentieth-century paintings presented in the book, some of which are awful. I don't understand why I should see them before I die! I believe the 19th century was the peak of painting art until American artists took control of thought flow and distorted the artistic path, and it is not a new scenario :D (Don't take it seriously).

By watching the ups and downs of the art of painting, the prominent role of the Europeans, especially Italians, English, and French, can be clearly seen; how they have evolved painting over many centuries among various range of topics, from religious and moral subjects to still life and sexual themes; Undoubtedly artistic society owes them.

Aristotle believed that the experience of art, especially tragedy, helps the people of society get rid of dangerous emotions by experiencing catharsis. Artists are messengers; Not only is the purpose of art to unite the inner world of feeling (a healthy feeling) and the outer world of color and form, but also artists should pay attention to their social responsibility.


Postscript: The verses of Khayyam kept reverberating in my mind when I was turning the page and looking carefully at the eyes of those pretty, shining, and live sitters:
The kings, the heads, and lords are all beneath the clay. See fair faces like the moon in the mouths of ants.


15th-century masterpiece by van Eyck


16th-century masterpiece by Bruegel the Elder


16th-century masterpiece by Caravaggio


17th-century masterpiece by van Honthorst


18th-century amazing landscape by Canaletto


19th-century painting. The kiss by Hayez


19th-century landscape by Eakins


20th-century masterpiece by Edward Hopper

[7jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going into this book, you should know that this book leans a lot towards European/American painted art, but does have suprisingly many Australian examples. Each artpiece (1 or 2 per page) has an explaining text added to it telling about the artist, and perhaps some details about the art. Many people did these texts, so there is certainly some variety in this.

The art is divided by centuries, though starting with the 'pre-1400s' one. The book ends in 2006, so some artists are still alive in this book, and of course stuff beyond this year are not included. At the start of the book is the index of titles, and at the end is a glossary and list of commentators. In each artpiece, the date and the artist/unknown are always given; most add also painting type, size (or 'detail'), and where the piece is (if it's in private collection, one has to wait until it's been loaned for some exhibition).
The artpieces are chosen by availability in museums etc. (or possibility of them being seen sometimes). If you want, you can go catch them in these places, but just reading and seeing them here can be just as good, at least when you read them in light bright enough - I had to sometimes get up and check them in better light.

These works were great to read about when I wanted to read something light and easy to leave (when one has to leave for work or something like that). Some artists were there more than once, but I felt it was deserved (fe. Giotto, Van Gogh). Of course I didn't like all pieces, but it's good to have variety for many tastes of readers. The commentaries opened many pieces well, and started missing reading this when I finished reading. But I have other art books still, so maybe now I can think which next one to choose...

[Micah G · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable book! I didn't read every single page, just the paintings that really intrigued me. The brief history of the author and interpretation for each painting, was a nice bite-sized say of learning about each one. It has inspired me to go to more museums and my appreciation for paintings has grown immensely after reading this.

The only disappointment is that there were only about 20 or so female artists, a quick google search identified that women weren't allowed to study the arts till the late 1800s. I wonder if the author could have made more of an effort to showcase female artists?

Here's my personal top 10 favourites from the book:
1. The Melun Madonna - Jean Fouquet
2. Ophelia - John Everett Millais
3. Nighthawks - Edward Hopper
4. Judith Beheading Holofernes - Artemisia Gentileschi
5. The Bookworm - Carl Spitzweg
6. La Primavera - Sandro Botticelli
7. Work - Ford Madox Brown
8.The Sistine Chapel Ceiling - Michelangelo
9. Habitacion No.23 - Fernando de Szyszlo
10. The Lady in Mauve - Lyonel Feininger

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art books are generally intimating but this book is not. There is a write-up for each piece of art which is short and generally very accessible. Having the painting and the write-up together makes the book easy to read, allowing the reader to read a few entries and stop. On the down side, I wish the paintings were larger so you could see more detail. Also the book is heavy for reading in bed! I would have preferred a larger format allowing larger photos of the paintings with the 1001 paintings divided into several books. (Why didn't the editor include cave art?)

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice compilation though think they really missed a trick by not also indexing by location - would have been a very useful tool if you were going on holiday to know which works of art reside in a particular country (or even museum). Unsurprisingly the selected works from the late 1990s to early 2000s are a bit of a mixed bag, but I guess it's hard to tell what will have longevity when you're living in that period right now. But overall I liked it and thought there were a number of unexpected works included.

[Steef · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other people said before me, this is pretty unbalanced, biased and subjective. But I still enjoyed reading it as an artful way to enhance my visits to the toilet (ahem).

But despite all said flaws, it's still very much worth it to see these works chronologically. I saw many works I did know, a lot I didn't know and a fair few I didn't care to know, but putting it all in perspective does add a lot to seeing them all one by one.

[Lavinia Darlea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as bad as I thought it would be. It did not radically change my tastes - I've just got to tolerate Kadinsky a bit more, but nothing spectacular. I still dislike the cubists/expressionists/such, and I still love the classics and the surrealists. But it is a good mind training and it is informative and interesting. Even if, as the engineer that I am, I do believe all the 'hidden meanings' in the abstract art is bull :)

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a nicely done book, but I have quibbles. The first is that a good percentage of these paintings are in "private collections," so would I really be able to see them? Second, the bulk of the paintings are in European museums, with the MET making up a good chunk of the non European ones. As a long time lover of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and National Galley, I protest.

But pretty pictures, and it does have Asian art as well as ancient Egyptian art.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book itself isn't that bad but I had to give up about 20% into it because I found some of the paintings overrated and most of the paintings in this book are in Italy.
I was in Rome last week for my mum's birthday and I saw some of the pictures in this book but I didn't get why they were so popular because they weren't as great as the author tries making them out to be.

[Igor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Норм, але є претензії до підбору картин (наприклад, хотілось би більше 17 століття, але менше 1-ої половини 19 та 2 половини 20), і, головне, як для "paintings you must see", тут забагато картин з приватних колекцій.

[Debra Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing, enlightening book; I learned so much and the attention to details was insightful. I will never look at a painting the same way again!

[Grace 🌴 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A majority of the paintings from the 1940s and on are part of private collections so good luck seeing those in person. Otherwise this is a very informative book.

[Nonnin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 ชอบมากก เหมือนรวมภาพฮิตๆไว้ในเล่มเดียว มีคำอธิบายเกี่ยวกับภาพประมาณนึงไม่ได้ลงลึกมาก

[Julia Seton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t read the descriptions just looked at the paintings

[Joëlle Dumais-Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pratique 🖼

[Goatllama]

Ah yes see these paintings but also here’s way too much text ah yes thank you 🙄