The Story of Art

"The Story of Art" is the most famous and popular book on art ever published. For over 50 years it has remained unrivalled as an introduction to the whole subject, from the earliest cave paintings to the experimental art of today. Readers of all ages and backgrounds throughout the world have found in Professor Gombrich a true master, who combines knowledge and wisdom with a unique gift for communicating directly his own deep love of the works of art he describes. "The Story of Art" owes its lasting popularity to the directness and simplicity of the writing, and also the author's skill in presenting a clear narrative. He described his aim as "to bring some intelligible order into the wealth of names, periods and styles which crowd the pages of more ambitious works", and using his insight into the psychology of the visual arts, he makes us see the history of art as "a continuous weaving and changing of traditions in which each work refers to the past and points to the future", "a...