Customer Reviews

Paintings That Changed the World: From Lascaux to Picasso

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At first I flipped through the book and looked at a some of the artwork. It seemed interesting, so I went back to the beginning (it was presented chronologically) and started reading. For the next three days I only put the book down when I absolutely "had to do something." The interesting historical tidbits that accompanied the artwork were so intriquing. I learned so much during the exciting adventure of reading this book.

I don't have a copy of the book with me, so this is going to very general.

I was intrigued as to how a painting could change the world (outside of the art world) so I was quite looking forward to this book.

I found the paintings selected to be an interesting mix as was the analysis and information about the paintings. However, while there were a few paintings which I would agree had changed the world, for the most part, I would describe the paintings as paintings of events that changed the world, rather than the paintings themselves changing the world.

Great book, lovely pictures. I bought it and a couple of the others in the series to do some art appreciation for my class of 7 year old children. Seems to work well!

Highly biased toward both Western art and Christianity, this book ignores a treasure trove of interesting facts about the paintings it discusses. For example, the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait is included, without one word of its symbolism or the "story behind the story." Very little information is included about the interesting lives of the artists as well. The book should be retitled "How Christianity and Dead White Men Changed the World."