Showing What Cannot Be Explained

Along the three major themes of technique, art epochs, and pictorial genres, art history can delve into the smallest details. “Don't think, but look!” concern is diametrically opposed. Foregoing any commentary text, this book is about the conscious act of seeing without distraction in order to recognize the essential—the “unexplainable”— in the work of art.

This publication does not intend to be a comprehensive history of art. Instead, this quite subjective selection of 338 paintings aims to provide an unclouded view of the chronological development of Western painting over seven centuries. The key painting is on the cover: Cezanne’s Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses) that, like a gateway, opens the path to the non-representational image of our time.