50 paintings you should know

Perfect overview work for art beginners: the most important paintings in art history in one volume.

Around four million people a year visit the Sistine Chapel in Rome and marvel at the frescoes that Michelangelo created there 500 years ago. Much less admired locally, but just as world famous are Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, three lonely souls in a bar in Chicago at night. Iconic works of art like these are firmly anchored in our visual memory and continue to shape painting to this day. 50 Paintings You Should Know presents a pictorial atlas of art in 50 works, each of which in its own way has achieved an eternal place in the Olympus of art history. Well-informed texts about the history of their creation and impact, numerous comparative illustrations, short biographies of the artists and a glossary of the most important technical terms, styles and techniques make the volume the perfect overview work for art beginners.