See What You’re Missing

Description

The internationally bestselling author on how art can help us appreciate life in all its strange and exhilarating beauty

Artists have learnt to pay attention. The rest of us spend most of our time on autopilot, rushing from place to place, our overfamiliarity blinding us to the marvellous, life-affirming phenomena of our world. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

In his typically engaging style, Will Gompertz takes us into the minds of artists – from emerging stars to old masters – to show us how to look at and experience the world with their heightened powers of perception.

In See What You’re Missing we learn, for example, how Rembrandt can help us see ourselves, how David Hockney helps us to see nature, and how Frida Kahlo can help us see through pain. Each artist has their own unique way of looking, which when applied to our own lives stimulates our senses so we might know the intoxicating feeling of being truly alive.

‘Art can amaze us into changing our minds. This remarkable book teaches us how’ Es Devlin

‘Highly engaging and thought-provoking’ Philip Hook, author of Breakfast at Sotheby’s

‘Lucid and revealing’ Michael Prodger, The Times

‘Will Gompertz is the best teacher you never had‘ GuardianOffers a tidy lesson in not just getting more from art, but more from life itself . . . lucid and revealing . . . Gompertz is at his best—Michael Prodger, The Times

Art can amaze us into changing our minds. This remarkable book teaches us how—Es Devlin

Highly engaging and thought-provoking—Philip Hook, author of Breakfast at Sotheby’s

By going straight to the essence of each one’s work, Will Gompertz provides a fluent and refreshing introduction to the way art can enable us, in the most unexpected ways, to see the world anew—Michael Peppiatt

Gompertz insightfully explores the processes and personalities of a remarkable roster of artists . . . effortless prose and laser focus on the communicative potential of art make this a worthwhile read—James Woods Marshall, Library Journal

Thorough and diverse . . . Gompertz’s illuminations of artists’ lives and minds are accessible and full of valuable information. This is an exhilarating resource for personal growth, a consciousness-raising exploration for artists and art lovers, and an asset for anyone interested in the who, what, and why of great artworks—Booklist

Gompertz doesn’t have it in him to be boring—The Times

Will Gompertz is the best teacher you never had—Guardian

He is a natural communicator whose passion for art is expressed with wit and verve—Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England

Hugely accessible . . . writes about difficult things without letting on that they are difficult—Independent on Sunday on What Are You Looking At?Will Gompertz is a world-leading expert in and champion of the arts. Having spent seven years as a Director of the Tate Galleries followed by eleven years as the BBC’s Arts Editor and two years as Artistic Director at the Barbican, he is now the director of the Sir John Soane’s Museum. Gompertz has interviewed and observed many of the world’s leading artists, actors, writers, musicians, directors and designers. Creativity magazine in New York ranked him as one of the 50 most original thinkers in the world. He is the author of the internationally bestselling What Are You Looking At? and Think Like an Artist, both translated into more than twenty languages.GB

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