What Are You Looking At?

Will Gompertz, arts editor of the BBC, takes us on a trip through modern art, and leaves us with both knowledge and a smile. No pompous artsy-fartsy fellow is Gompertz. No, instead he takes a light approach that is inviting, especially for those of us who came to the book without a lot of information about modern art.

What movements does Gompertz share with us? Impressionism. Primitivism. Cubism. Dadaism. Surrealism. Pop Art. For me, this book was my first introduction to Futurism, Suprematism, Neo-Plasticism, Abstract Expressionism, and Conceptualism.

What people does Gompertz share with us? Here is my list of my favorites: Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Seurat, Klimt, Picasso, Kandinsky, Klee, Mondrian, Ernst, Magritte, Kahlo, Rothko.

The writing was user-friendly. I wish there had been more photos of art (doesn't it seem obvious that a book about art should have lots of illustrations?)