What Are You Looking At?, Will Gompertz
What Are You Looking At?, Will Gompertz
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What Are You Looking At?
The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art

Author: Will Gompertz

Narrator: Matthew Waterson

Unabridged: 13 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/29/2019

Categories: Nonfiction, Art

Synopsis

For skeptics, art lovers, and the millions of us who visit art galleries every year—and are confused—What Are You Looking At? by former director of London's Tate Gallery Will Gompertz is a wonderfully lively, accessible narrative history of Modern Art, from Impressionism to the present day.

What is modern art? Who started it? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it such big money? Join BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art.

You will learn: not all conceptual art is bollocks; Picasso is king (but Cézanne is better); Pollock is no drip; Dali painted with his moustache; a urinal changed the course of art; why your five-year-old really couldn't do it. Refreshing, irreverent, and always straightforward, What Are You Looking At? cuts through the pretentious art speak and asks all the basic questions that you were too afraid to ask. Your next trip to the art gallery is going to be a little less intimidating and a lot more interesting.

About Will Gompertz

As the BBC's Arts Editor, Will Gompertz has interviewed and observed many of the world's leading artists, directors, novelists, musicians, actors, and designers. Creativity magazine in New York ranked him as one of the fifty most original thinkers in the world. He is the author of the internationally bestselling art history book What Are You Looking At?, which has been published in over fifteen languages.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Katia on September 13, 2020

I wanted to remind myself about the main visual art movements in the 20th century. And that fit the bill. It is very accessible and full of anecdotes, so easy to read. But it is more a survey and do not attempt more than that. I wanted to find out a bit more about philosophy of conceptual art. This......more

Goodreads review by Viviane on October 29, 2012

Here is a comprehensive, readable book for those ranging from art lovers who those looking at modern art and thinking, "I don't have a clue to what this is!" Beginning with a short overview of how art as investment increases for both living and dead artists, the author begins with the story of how M......more

Goodreads review by Macoco on March 02, 2016

Si sois profanos en el arte como yo, os recomiendo este libro. Ameno y divertido, te da una visión general del arte contemporáneo.......more

Goodreads review by Deb (Readerbuzz) on August 21, 2020

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 informatio......more

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