Vincent van Gogh's life and work are so intertwined that it is hardly possible to observe one without thinking of the other. Van Gogh has indeed become the incarnation of the suffering, misunderstood martyr of modern art, the emblem of the artist as an outsider. An article, published in 1890, gave details about van Gogh's illness. The author of the article saw the painter as "a terrible and demented genius, often sublime, sometimes grotesque, always...

"The African diaspora - a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade and Western colonialism - has generated a wide array of artistic achievements, from blues and reggae, to the paintings of the pioneering African American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner and video creations of contemporary hip-hop artists. This book concentrates on how these works, often created during times of major social upheaval and transformation, use black culture both as a subject...

"The ancient Greeks recorded their mythology on vase paintings, engraved gems, and bronze and stone sculptures, offering depictions that often predate any references to the myths in literature or recount alternative, unfamiliar versions of these tales. In some cases, visual art provides our only evidence of these myths, as there are no surviving accounts in ancient Greek literature of stories such as the Fall of Troy or Theseus and the Minotaur"--...