The Wonderful World of Absurd Faces. Not the Most Serious Look at Serious Art

If you think that the history of art is boring and academic, open this book, and you will realize that you were mistaken! Renowned Belgian art historian Mattijs van Meirlo invites readers on an exciting journey to find the remarkably absurd faces in masterpieces of world art and learn their intriguing stories. In the works of Fragonard, Raphael, Vermeer, Van Gogh, or Frida Kahlo, the author unveils the mystery: why eccentric, and sometimes simply strange, faces made it onto the most celebrated canvases of these and other artists. This is the very book that wittily and without pretension reveals to the reader stories about religion, love, vanity, and about one very confused unicorn.