In the Labyrinth of Art. The Gift Album. The Unknown Life of Masterpieces from the Sphinx to 'The Scream'

Following whimsical routes from Paris to Tahiti, from Stonehenge to Malta and the Tonga Islands, from Madrid to the Caribbean, from Los Angeles to Naumburg, art historian Gloria Fossi has gathered captivating stories about great and small masterpieces of world art. In her book, she invites the reader to repeat this journey in the footsteps of both world-famous and nameless artists from prehistoric times to the present day. Whose face does the Great Sphinx in Giza bear? How did Walt Disney draw inspiration from medieval art to create his iconic cartoons? What prompted Munch to leave an exclamatory message on his painting 'The Scream': 'Only a madman could draw such a thing!'? In her witty sketches, Gloria Fossi, with broad scholarly and cultural erudition and great affection for the heroes of her stories, outlines a large picture—or rather, a map—of her art historical research, showcasing her incredible gift for storytelling. The stories of masterpieces come to life before our eyes—a single small detail, which most museum visitors overlook, can spark others in a whimsical chain of associations. Magnificent illustrations allow readers to examine famous works of art in the smallest details, enticing them into the mysterious labyrinth called art. This book is a true thread of Ariadne for those just beginning to learn to analyze art. Using individual works as examples, the author demonstrates how the same image can be interpreted differently depending on sociopolitical and cultural contexts. Gloria Fossi is an art historian, a living classic of art studies, a writer and art traveler, and the author of the official guide to the Uffizi Gallery.