Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Art of Reading Art: Understanding What Makes Great Art Great

The Art of Reading Art: Understanding What Makes Great Art Great

Olivier, Matthew

Hardcover

Art Criticism & TheoryArt HistoryGeneral Art

Publisher Price: $29.95

PREORDER - Expected ship date October 6, 2026

ISBN10: 1923503332
ISBN13: 9781923503335
Publisher: Smith Street Books
Published: Oct 6 2026
Pages: 280
Weight: 1.25
Language: English
Uncover art history by discovering what makes a masterpiece great.

Across eras, painters have pulled on their past and present to create works celebrated far into the future. But while museums are filled with artworks considered to be genius, it can be difficult to understand why these particular paintings have earned that title.

In The Art of Reading Art, Matthew Olivier expands his exceptionally popular online series (@matthewolivierx) to conversationally break down some of history's great paintings, from Bosch's The Conjurer and Jan van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait to Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. In his uniquely welcoming style, Olivier captures, for readers, what these paintings say, and how exactly they say it.

Traveling across periods and styles, Olivier's focus isn't on a timeline of movements, or on creating an academic catalogue. Rather, his writing uncovers what makes over 100 of history's artworks so special. From discussions of history and technique to analysis of what details say about a work and its painter, The Art of Reading Art helps readers dive deeper into paintings without the need for an art history degree.

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