What Are You Looking At?
The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art
"We all know what Modern Art looks like. We've seen Monet's water lilies, we've admired Picasso's nudes, and we've gawked at Damien's shark, as well as the price tag. But what does it all mean? What is Modern Art? Who started it? Why do we love/hate it? And why is it such big money? What Are You Looking At? takes the reader on a captivating tour of modern art from Impressionism to the present day, telling the story of the movements, the artists and the wonderful works that not only changed art forever, but helped create and define the modern world. Refreshing, irreverent and extremely accessible, the book is rich with extraordinary tales and anecdotes - a coffee morning in Paris with Monet and the Impressionists, Marcel Duchamp purchasing his famous urinal, Sir Nicholas Serota, the Director of the Tate Empire confessing his terror at not knowing what to think every time he encounters a work of art for the first time. It also lifts the lid on the astronomically expensive art sales - how buying modern art has become a sound investment- and explains how the market really works - the artists, the dealers, the auction houses and the curators. With wonderful humor, down-to-earth storytelling, and a flair for odd details that spark insights, Will Gompertz is the perfect tour guide for Modern Art. He is a former director of the Tate Gallery in London and the BBC Arts Editor, so he brings both considerable expertise and genuine love of the subject to this informative and engaging narrative. What Are You Looking At? doesn't just tell you if a work of art is any good or not; it does much better than that. Will Gompertz arms us with the knowledge to be in a position to make our own minds up by telling us the one thing that we've always wanted to know: what are we looking at?"--
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
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Nonfiction
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Warm tone · Steady pace
Best when you want to settle into a longer reading experience.
A good fit if…
Readers looking for a substantial, immersive commitment with room for a world or argument to unfold.
This book's DNA
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A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-1421-8029-7
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL27540637M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
Best when you want to settle into a longer reading experience.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
- Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
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