Being a Genius: Stories of Art, Life, Death, Love, Sex, Money and Madness

Zarina Asfari's book balances between the genre of biography and literary text, which creates an emotional connection between the reader and the heroes - generally recognized geniuses of world painting. Each chapter begins with a direct speech from an unknown person: readers only know that this is the story of one of the greatest artists in the world, and try to understand who they are talking about (Asfari wrote these “monologues” based on the diaries and letters of the artists).

The reader will learn many interesting facts from the creative and personal lives of the book’s heroes, and will also read the author’s analysis of the artistic features of two paintings of each of them. There are no famous but familiar works among them, so on the pages of the book readers will not find Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” ​​or Munch’s “The Scream,” but will get acquainted with lesser-known, but no less outstanding works of art.

Another important part of the book is recommendations that will help art lovers get closer to geniuses, for example, go on a trip, as Gauguin loved to do, or cook a dinner according to the recipe that Salvador Dali preferred.

The book contains QR codes that lead to the author's articles on Yandex.Zen.

The book is closer to fiction in form and non-fiction in content, so it may attract those who like to read but usually shy away from non-fiction.