In 1867, Monet (1840–1925) turned his back on tradition when he focused on the bustling life of Paris from the balcony of the Louvre. He was fascinated by the present in the growing French capital rather than the old masters. In a series of three paintings he created a new pictorial topic. The important works from Berlin, Den Haag and Oberlin come together in exhibitions and this lavishly illustrated book.

Energy, optimism, the joy of life: Dietmar Brixy creates works that burst out into the world with luminous colour and dynamism. Paintings with titles such as Happy or Journey invite us to join Brixy on a visual adventure of glorious colour and spirited composition, which he sets off against dark and muted shades. Every picture offers an emotional and exciting discovery, each time in a new way.  

The female protagonists of the Portuguese-British artist Paula Rego either come from real life or derive from the world’s great legends, fairy tales and myths. As complicated heroines of our time they have endured illegal abortions or fight against the limitations of traditional gender roles instead of dragons.

With his Fat Cars and Tiny Houses, his sculptures of cucumbers, and sausages, Erwin Wurm (b. 1954) shines a critical spotlight on consumer society’s manipulative mechanisms and their effects. On the occasion of Wurm’s 70th birthday this extensive catalogue  documents all of the important stations of Erwin Wurm’s artistic career to date.

"Narrative Wisdom and African Arts" explores how historical and contemporary African arts make visible narratives rooted in collective and individual memory and knowledge. Historical works made by artists across sub-Saharan Africa during the thirteenth to twentieth centuries dialogue with contemporary works by African artists working around the globe.

Surrealism revolutionised art with fantastic, radically subjective motifs. As a political and international movement, the artists wanted to change society. The topicality of their ideas enables a fascinating comparison between important pioneers of Surrealism and the following generations of artists.

Over one thousand years old, the Buddhist monastery complex of Tabo with its exquisitely preserved works of art ranks among the most fascinating cultural and historical treasures of mankind. The new edition of this richly illustrated volume shows the beauty of  these legendary sanctuaries for the first time in the highest digital resolution and describes in detail the entire gamut of Western Tibetan artistic styles.

This publication examines the Japanese artistic understanding of China from the late 1600s, Japan’s period of seclusion, to its age of modernization after the mid-nineteenth century. The volume focuses on the ways Japanese painters from the late 1600s to the twentieth century pictured China, both as a real place and an imagined promised land. It features three essays by renowned Japanese art historians in addition to more than fifty catalogue entries highlighting unusual artworks ...

This publication examines the Japanese artistic understanding of China from the late 1600s, Japan’s period of seclusion, to its age of modernization after the mid-nineteenth century. The volume focuses on the ways Japanese painters from the late 1600s to the twentieth century pictured China, both as a real place and an imagined promised land. It features three essays by renowned Japanese art historians in addition to more than fifty catalogue entries highlighting unusual artworks ...

How do artists ensure that their works will still be known in later centuries? How do they reach a public in distant places? In around 1600 the answer was: via prints. Through their exceptional works and marketing strategies in this medium, Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) and Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) earned international and lasting success.