Books to Better Understand Various Art Movements
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Art that Changed the World by DK (Amazon link)
- A wonderful overview of art movements ranging from cave paintings to modern art. This richly-illustrated book focuses on paintings and contains many bite-sized pieces of information, ideal for reading a few pages at the time. And it is pretty affordable for such a information-rich book.
- This is an absolute classic if you are interested in the Italian Renaissance. It's widely recognized as the first great art history book. If you are very serious about art history, the full version is a beautiful one to get. But it's so full of information of lists of artworks that each artist made, that it is hard to get through. Luckily, there are very good abridged versions available, which are much more readable and suitable for most readers.
- One of our favorite art books discusses the rise of Impressionism. While packed with carefully-researched information, it is written like an exciting novel. The two central characters are the painters Édouard Manet and Ernest Meissonier. One is on top of the art world, the other primarily receives criticism. But things are about to change...
- This is probably the most popular textbook on art history. With 90,000 words and many illustrations, it covers art history from the beginning till the end, organized by art movements. It is very rich in information and gives you a great foundation on understanding art and its history.