What Paintings Say: 100 Masterpieces in Detail

This important contribution to our understanding of art history's masterpieces puts some of the world's most famous paintings under the microscope to uncover their smallest and subtlest elements, and all that they reveal about a bygone era, place and culture. Guiding our gaze into the details of subject matter and symbolism, authors Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen bring even the most familiar images to new life through their complexities and intrigues: Is the bride pregnant? Why is the man wearing a beret? How does the shadow of war loom over a dance scene?

Along the way, we travel from Ancient Egypt to modern Europe, from the Renaissance to the Roaring Twenties. We meet Greek heroes and humble German poets, and wander from cathedrals to cabaret bars, from the Garden of Eden to a garden bench in the French countryside. By breaking down each painting and then reassembling it like a giant jigsaw puzzle, these celebrated canvases captivate us not only for their astonishing wealth of detail, but also for the testimony they provide to the fashions and trends, people and politics, loves and lifestyles of their time.

Publisher: Taschen