7 Recommended Books About Artists and Art

The most famous artists not only painted vividly, but lived vividly too — more than one of them knew both poverty and the greatest acclaim; some were expelled from art academies, while others left of their own accord; not to mention the romances with their models and the countless adventures they threw themselves into in pursuit of a masterpiece. So it's no wonder their life stories make wonderful material for a novel.

In this article you'll find both light reads for the bus ride to work and more serious books that will help you get acquainted with art history — the choice is yours, but we'd like to recommend a few reads for autumn evenings that will broaden your understanding of art and artists.

1. Tracy Chevalier, “Girl with a Pearl Earring”

Since we've started this list, we can't move on to the others without discussing this one first. Even people with no interest in art at all know “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” because it's simply an absorbing story in which fantasy and fact intertwine so convincingly that you'll turn the pages one after another without noticing dawn breaking outside. Of course, the book was made hugely famous by the Hollywood film starring well-known actors, but in fairness it must be said that although the film doesn't stray too far from the book, a few moments are a little too sweetened, and even if you've already seen it, this beautifully written book, full of all kinds of detail, will still be worth your time.

Depicting Vermeer's life during the year he painted the picture of the same name, the book draws you in not only through its central storyline — the relationship between the painter and the maid who poses for him — but also gives you a glimpse into the everyday life of the time, and, most importantly, into the painter's studio.

If you're tempted to see the famous painting in person, it currently hangs in the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery in The Hague.

2. William Somerset Maugham, “The Moon and Sixpence”

This slim little book, which you'll read through almost without noticing, is based on the life of Paul Gauguin, through which the author explores the powerful forces lying behind the genius of creation.

The writer himself recounts that the idea for the book was born in 1904, when he was living in Paris and met people who had known Paul Gauguin personally and worked alongside him in Pont-Aven. Having learned a great deal about the famous painter, Maugham realized that all those stories could be woven into a novel, but the idea kept maturing for another ten years, until in 1914 he traveled to Tahiti and finally felt inspired to write.

The novel's main character, Charles Strickland, works at a bank; he is wealthy and privileged, but as life rolls into its second half, a passion for creating overtakes everything. Driven by his artistic vision, he leaves London for Paris, and later for Tahiti, and his path is marked by the people closest to him being hurt along the way. The author looks upon the cruel yet tormented Strickland with gentle compassion, revealing the sacrifices that true artistic genius sometimes demands. Readers will find it hard to like Strickland, but even harder to forget him.

Much debate surrounds the title, whose meaning is never explained in the book itself, but it is believed to have been taken from a review of another writer's novel, in which the main character, gazing up at the moon, fails to see the sixpence lying at his feet. As the author himself wrote in a letter in 1956: “If you look down to search for the sixpence, you don't raise your eyes and miss the moon.”

3. Tracy Chevalier, “The Lady and the Unicorn”

This novel is by the same author as “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” and we've already seen her talent for weaving fact together with fantasy. This work is somewhat less well known (perhaps because it was never made into a film), but it is certainly no less worthy of your attention.

Once again the writer chooses one of the world's great art masterpieces — the enchanting medieval tapestries hanging in the Musée de Cluny in Paris, the circumstances of whose creation remain unknown to this day.

This time the reader is transported to 15th-century Paris, where a wealthy French nobleman, newly risen in rank at the king's court, commissions six lavish tapestries. He hires the charming, arrogant, and immensely talented Nicolas des Innocents, who first stirs up genuine turmoil among the women of the household (the mother, the daughter, the maid, and the lady-in-waiting), and then travels on to Brussels, where the tapestries are to be woven.

The tapestries change all of their lives, and for those who know where to look and what to look for, they reveal the story of the unicorn's seduction. The tale itself is woven together like the finest tapestry, and an engaging evening with a good book awaits you.

4. Irving Stone, “Lust for Life”

The book tells the life story of the famous Vincent van Gogh, and stands out for the fact that, although written as a work of fiction, it is based entirely on letters and the recollections of his contemporaries, and could almost pass for a biography written in an artistic style. The narrative moves steadily through all the key stages of van Gogh's life, from his first unhappy love to the end of his life in a psychiatric hospital in Provence. The reader sees how his passion for art was born, how the painter began to draw, how he honed his skills, and what influenced and shaped him as an artist. For anyone wishing to get better acquainted with this artist, we couldn't recommend anything better. If you enjoy the book, you can also watch its film adaptation.

5. Gloria Goldreich, “My Father's Paradise” (Marc Chagall’s daughter Ida)

This is a novel grounded in real facts about Ida, the daughter of Marc Chagall, one of the most celebrated painters of the 20th century, whom her father guarded like the apple of his eye and painted countless times.

Sadly, the beautiful Ida decides to spread her wings and leave the safety of her parents' nest, moving to Paris to study, where her heart is captured by a penniless student — but don't be fooled, this is not just a love story.

France is soon occupied by the Nazis, and Chagall, being Jewish, immediately becomes a target, yet the painter sees only his art and denies the ever-growing threat. Ida faces a dilemma — should she seek her own path and step out of her father's shadow, or bury her ambitions for an independent life to save her father from the dangers threatening him, and from himself? This question follows her constantly through endless journeys from France to Great Britain, from there to New York, and back again to Europe, during which Ida experiences both hardship and warmth, yet never loses her love of life — on the contrary, she learns to savor it even in the most difficult moments.

“My Father's Paradise” is a novel about the world of art, about an artist's ego and talent, about love and hatred, threats and intrigue. The book is like a painting by Marc Chagall itself: full of poetry, dreams, and passion.

6. Elizabeth Lunday, “Secret Lives of Great Artists”

This slim little book packs in the lives of more than a dozen of the most famous artists of all time, from the Renaissance to Modernism, portrayed concisely and wittily. Perhaps not everything you read here should be taken at face value — amusing stories about Michelangelo's life have traveled a very long way to reach us today. On the other hand, we should approach any source with a critical eye.

In this book, each artist is given a brief dossier that includes not only birth and death dates, but also the era and style they represent, their best-known work, and an interesting quote; a concentrated biography that conveys the most important facts of a life, yet is far from dry, along with a few amusing anecdotes from the artist's life that will help you better understand the artist's character — and make you smile.

What's more, this book is wonderful because you don't need to read it straight through — you can open it to any artist you like at any time and read the couple of pages devoted to them in just a few minutes. You'll have a good time and learn quite a lot that's new.

7. Will Gompertz, “What Are You Looking At?”

For those looking to seriously deepen their knowledge of modern art, we suggest picking up “What Are You Looking At?”

The book's author, Will Gompertz, who spent several years as one of the curators at London's Tate Modern, says: “To appreciate and enjoy modern and contemporary art, it's best not to start by asking whether it's good or bad, but by understanding how it developed — from the classical Leonardo to today's pickled sharks and unmade beds.” So the writer immediately transports us to late 19th-century Paris, to the moment when the old, classical, “beautiful and understandable” art meets the avant-garde and moves toward what, in most people's opinion, a five-year-old could have scribbled.

Will Gompertz will guide you, with remarkable talent, thoroughness, and wit, through the last 150 years of modern art history — but don't be alarmed: he explains even the most complex matters very simply and clearly, and instead of learning about each artistic movement in isolation, you'll come to understand what drove the transformation of one style into another, which artist inspired whom, and how we ended up where we are today — at conceptual art, which turns out to be very simple, and is sometimes called rubbish quite undeservedly.

After reading this book, visits to museums and galleries will become far more interesting.