Norbert Wolf – författare

Sharp angles, strange forms, lurid colors, and distorted perspectives are classic hallmarks of Expressionism, the twentieth century movement that prioritized emotion over objective reality. Though particularly present in Germany and Austria, the movement’s approach flourished internationally and is today hailed as one of the most influential shifts in art history. With leading groups Die Brücke (The Bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), and key players such as Wassily Kandinsky, Egon Schiele,and Emil Nolde, the Expressionists disowned Impressionism, which they regarded as “man lowered to the position of a gramophone record of the outer world”, to depict instead a raw and visceral experience of life as it was felt, rather than seen on the surface. Their paintings brim with emotive force, conveyed in particular through intense and non-naturalistic color palettes, loose brushwork, and thick textures. Covering the group’s stylistic tendencies, influences, and most important protagonists, this introductory book explores the Expressionist panorama of moods, ideas, and emotions and their abiding quest for deep authenticity.

The beauty of nature and man’s loneliness are dominant themes in the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). The artist often places a small human figure in a broad landscape, as in his famous paintings Monk by the Sea and The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. For a long time the importance and influence of this great Romantic painter were underestimated. When he died, Friedrich had already been forgotten by his contemporaries and was only rediscovered in the early 20th century. Today he is considered to be the most important German painter of his generation and a precursor of Expressionism.Once Friedrich gave the following advice to an artist-colleague of his who was constricted by academic rules: “Shut your physical eye so that you first see your painting with your spiritual eye. Then bring to light what you saw in the dark so that it has an effect on others, shining inwards from outside.” In other words, concentration and not imitation, essence and not frivolous brushwork.

A comprehensive volume covering five seminal genres that shaped art, from the late 19th century and well into the 20th: Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Each approach was distinct in aesthetic and philosophy, but all had immediate impact and enduring influence. Many great names were indelibly associated with one, some explored several during their careers.Impressionism, led by Monet and Renoir, focused on light and color, capturing fleeting moments and challenging academic art's rigidity. Expressionism was driven by artists like Edvard Munch and Wassily Kandinsky to convey raw emotion, distorting reality to reflect the angst of human experience. Surrealists, like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, explored the subconscious, dreams, and the irrational, blending reality with fantasy across art, literature, and film. With Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko leading the charge, Abstract Expressionism emphasized spontaneity and emotion through bold, gestural brushstrokes, and established New York as the post-war art world’s new Mecca. Finally, artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol gained fame and dominated the zeitgeist by synthesizing advertising, pop culture, and high art into Pop Art.Though diverse, these movements collectively pushed the boundaries of creativity, redefined artistic expression, and altered the trajectory of contemporary art. This lavish edition celebrates their stories, featuring more than 250 high-quality reproductions and texts, exploring how each movement's ideas and innovations transformed art forever.

A comprehensive volume covering five seminal genres that shaped art, from the late 19th century and well into the 20th: Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Each approach was distinct in aesthetic and philosophy, but all had immediate impact and enduring influence. Many great names were indelibly associated with one, some explored several during their careers.Impressionism, led by Monet and Renoir, focused on light and color, capturing fleeting moments and challenging academic art's rigidity. Expressionism was driven by artists like Edvard Munch and Wassily Kandinsky to convey raw emotion, distorting reality to reflect the angst of human experience. Surrealists, like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, explored the subconscious, dreams, and the irrational, blending reality with fantasy across art, literature, and film. With Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko leading the charge, Abstract Expressionism emphasized spontaneity and emotion through bold, gestural brushstrokes, and established New York as the post-war art world’s new Mecca. Finally, artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol gained fame and dominated the zeitgeist by synthesizing advertising, pop culture, and high art into Pop Art.Though diverse, these movements collectively pushed the boundaries of creativity, redefined artistic expression, and altered the trajectory of contemporary art. This lavish edition celebrates their stories, featuring more than 250 high-quality reproductions and texts, exploring how each movement's ideas and innovations transformed art forever.

A comprehensive volume covering five seminal genres that shaped art, from the late 19th century and well into the 20th: Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Each approach was distinct in aesthetic and philosophy, but all had immediate impact and enduring influence. Many great names were indelibly associated with one, some explored several during their careers.Impressionism, led by Monet and Renoir, focused on light and color, capturing fleeting moments and challenging academic art's rigidity. Expressionism was driven by artists like Edvard Munch and Wassily Kandinsky to convey raw emotion, distorting reality to reflect the angst of human experience. Surrealists, like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, explored the subconscious, dreams, and the irrational, blending reality with fantasy across art, literature, and film. With Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko leading the charge, Abstract Expressionism emphasized spontaneity and emotion through bold, gestural brushstrokes, and established New York as the post-war art world’s new Mecca. Finally, artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol gained fame and dominated the zeitgeist by synthesizing advertising, pop culture, and high art into Pop Art.Though diverse, these movements collectively pushed the boundaries of creativity, redefined artistic expression, and altered the trajectory of contemporary art. This lavish edition celebrates their stories, featuring more than 250 high-quality reproductions and texts, exploring how each movement's ideas and innovations transformed art forever.

A comprehensive volume covering five seminal genres that shaped art, from the late 19th century and well into the 20th: Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Each approach was distinct in aesthetic and philosophy, but all had immediate impact and enduring influence. Many great names were indelibly associated with one, some explored several during their careers.Impressionism, led by Monet and Renoir, focused on light and color, capturing fleeting moments and challenging academic art's rigidity. Expressionism was driven by artists like Edvard Munch and Wassily Kandinsky to convey raw emotion, distorting reality to reflect the angst of human experience. Surrealists, like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, explored the subconscious, dreams, and the irrational, blending reality with fantasy across art, literature, and film. With Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko leading the charge, Abstract Expressionism emphasized spontaneity and emotion through bold, gestural brushstrokes, and established New York as the post-war art world’s new Mecca. Finally, artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol gained fame and dominated the zeitgeist by synthesizing advertising, pop culture, and high art into Pop Art.Though diverse, these movements collectively pushed the boundaries of creativity, redefined artistic expression, and altered the trajectory of contemporary art. This lavish edition celebrates their stories, featuring more than 250 high-quality reproductions and texts, exploring how each movement's ideas and innovations transformed art forever.

This beautifully illustrated, expansive overview of Dutch and Flemish art during the 17th century illuminates the creative achievements of one of the most important eras in western art.The Golden Age in Holland and Flanders roughly spanned the 17th century and was a period of enormous advances in the fields of commerce, science-and art. Still lifes, landscape paintings, and romantic depictions of everyday life became valued by the increasingly wealthy merchant classes in the Dutch provinces, while religious and historic paintings as well as portraits continued to appeal to the Flemish patronage.The Golden Age brought us Rembrandt, Vermeer, Rubens, and Van Dyck, but it was also the period of Frans Hals' revolutionary portraiture, Adriaen Brouwer's depictions of the working class at play, Jan Brueghel's velvety miniatures, and Hendrick Avercamp's lively winter landscapes. Norbert Wolf applies his vast understanding of the interplay between history, culture, and art to explore the forces that led to the Golden Age in Holland and Flanders and how this period influenced later generations of artists.Accompanied by luminous color illustrations, Wolf's accessible text considers the complex political, religious, social, and economic situation that led to newfound prosperity and, thus, to an enormous artistic output that we continue to marvel at and enjoy today.

Coinciding with the rise of the Habsburg dynasty and theexpansion of the Spanish Empire, the Spanish Golden Age createda fertile environment for cultural and scientific discovery. Someof the country’s greatest music, literature, and architecturewas created in the period between the mid-sixteenth andseventeenth centuries—and painting was no exception.Rich in illustrations and fascinating texts, this overview takesa thematic and chronological approach to the era and its laterinfluences. Opening with Spain’s emergence as a Europeanpower, it explores how developments such as the constructionof El Escorial ushered in a new era for painting; how the cities ofMadrid, Toledo, and Seville developed as centers of intellectual,political, and artistic activity; and how the Baroque period gaveway to the Rococo after the collapse of the Habsburg empire.Every major painter of the period is included here, with 250gloriously reproduced works by El Greco, Ribera, Velázquez,Zurbarán, Murillo, Ribalta, Goya, and dozens more. A finalchapter reveals how Spanish painters of the twentieth century,such as Picasso and Dalí, were shaped by their Golden Ageforebears.

One of the art world’s most recognizable and popularstyles, Impressionism is also one of the most complex. Inthis sumptuous overview Norbert Wolf lends his attentionto all aspects of Impressionism: its historical precursors,contemporary rivals, and the movements it inspired. Over 200reproductions of entire works and highlighted details introducereaders to the Impressionists’ aesthetics and techniques. Wolfdraws insightful parallels between these paintings and othercontemporary works of music, photography, and literature.Charting the movement’s expansion from France to the restof Europe and North America, this volume shines a spotlighton the main protagonists who were key in the developmentof Impressionism. It highlights not only the French pioneers—Claude Monet, Gustave Caillebotte, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and others—but alsoMax Liebermann, Lovis Corinth, John Singer Sargent, MaryCassatt, William Merritt Chase, and James McNeill Whistler.Authoritative and illuminating, this wide-ranging exploration ofImpressionism’s astounding impact on art history will surpriseeven the most seasoned aficionado.

The Art Nouveau movement became an international phenomenon at the beginning of the twentieth century that ushered in the era of modernity in almost every aspect of cultural life. For decades critics have argued that Art Nouveau was not an artistic period in its own right, but an amalgam of artists and styles that served as a bridge between neoclassicism and modernism. In this comprehensive, authoritative and copiously illustrated book, art historian Norbert Wolf explores Art Nouveau as a logical outgrowth of the historic forces in which it arose. This book focuses on the movement's wide variety of applications and reclaims its prominence in the pantheon of modern art history. Chapters on aesthetics, spirituality and the cult of beauty offer luminous examples of works by Mucha, Gaudi, Hoffmann, Klimt, Horta, Munch and Tiffany, among many others. Wolf's text is both informed and accessible, providing an exciting narrative that brings the Art Nouveau movement into clear focus. Beautifully produced to appeal to a wide range of readers, this new edition gives one of the world's most popular styles the serious consideration it deserves.

The Art Deco style is so recognisable and widespread that its original impact on the culture in which it emerged has been all but lost in the clutter of imitation. This book draws our attention back to the birth of Art Deco—a period between two devastating world wars when industrialisation was flourishing, interest in archaeology was peaking and movements such as Cubism, Constructivism, Futurism and Modernism were turning the art world on its head. Brilliantly designed to reflect the style it celebrates, Art Deco is filled with hundreds of examples of painting, architecture, interiors, jewelry, crafts, furniture and fashion. Author Norbert Wolf traces the chronology of the Art Deco style by looking at the politics and culture of Europe in the 1920s and early 30s and the artistic movements that paralleled its popularity. He follows Art Deco’s influence in Europe and its spread to the Americas and Asia. Most importantly, this wide-ranging volume looks beyond the era of Art Deco’s origination to the present day. Pointing to the numerous revivals and contemporary echoes in painting and even literature, this beautiful volume demonstrates the style’s lasting importance.

Albrecht Durer's prints and drawings have inspired hundreds of artists, both during his life and after his death. Yet his talent as a painter and colorist, and his enthusiasm for the scientific world have not been widely appreciated. Durer's influence was both international and intergenerational-indeed Picasso claimed to have been inspired by the 16th-century artist. Reproduced in stunning detail and including illustrations of Durer's most famous prints and drawings, a catalog raisonne of his paintings, and biographical research, this book presents a Durer for the 21st century. Producing more self-portraits than any other artist of his day; mass marketing his best-selling prints; even inventing his own monogram logo; Albrecht Du rer was commercially astute long before today's generation of self-promoting and financially-savvy artists. There are 55 extant Durer paintings, of which 17 are in dispute. Using scientific research, this book puts all arguments to bed resulting in the definitive catalog raisonne of the paintings. Drawing on in-depth research, this book reveals the truth behind Durer and his art.

The idea of “renaissance,” or rebirth, arose in Italy as a way of reviving the art, science, and scholarship of the Classical era. It was also powered by a quest to document artistic “reality” according to newly discovered scientific and mathematical principles. By the late 15th century, Italy had become the recognised European leader in the fields of painting, architecture, and sculpture. But why was Florence the centre of this burgeoning creativity, and how did it spread to other Italian cities? Brimming with vivid reproductions of works by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, and others, this book showcases the creative achievements that traveled from Florence to Rome to Venice. Art historian Norbert Wolf explores the influence of secular and religious patronage on artistic development; how the urban structure and way of life allowed for such a rich exchange of ideas; and how ideas of humanism informed artists reaching toward the future while clinging to the ideals of the past. Insightful, accessible, and fascinating, this thoroughly researched book highlights the connections and mutual influences of Florence, Rome, and Venice as well as their intriguing rivalries and interdependencies.

This richly illustrated volume invites readers to explore the phenomenon and fascination of Romanticism, a movement that shaped the cultural and aesthetic landscape of the nineteenth century and continues to resonate in modern consciousness.The Romantic era ignited a profound shift in the arts, celebrating imagination, emotion, and the sublime power of nature. The book offers a nuanced view of Romanticism’s revolutionary impact. It journeys through the movement’s origins in the experimental ferment of the eighteenth century, its apex in German, French, and British painting, and its later echoes across Europe and North America.The author examines key figures such as Caspar David Friedrich, J.M.W. Turner, Eugène Delacroix, and Théodore Géricault, exploring their transformative approaches to landscape, light, and human passion. The narrative also unravels the movement’s intricate relationship with themes of melancholy, the sublime, and the spiritual reconciliation of the individual with the universal.Acclaimed art historian Norbert Wolf illuminates Romanticism’s capacity to evoke longing, its poeticization of life through art, and its engagement with profound contradictions— an embrace of both light and shadow. By tracing the stylistic and cultural trajectories of Romantic painting, from Germany’s High Romanticism to the North American Hudson River School, he situates these works within broader artistic and intellectual traditions. Filled with breathtaking reproductions of major works, and backed by impeccable scholarship, Romanticism reveals a movement that transcended national boundaries and bridged the intersection of emotion, imagination, and the sublime.

Sharp angles, strange forms, lurid colors, and distorted perspectives are classic hallmarks of Expressionism, the twentieth century movement that prioritized emotion over objective reality. Though particularly present in Germany and Austria, the movement’s approach flourished internationally and is today hailed as one of the most influential shifts in art history. With leading groups Die Brücke (The Bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), and key players such as Wassily Kandinsky, Egon Schiele,and Emil Nolde, the Expressionists disowned Impressionism, which they regarded as “man lowered to the position of a gramophone record of the outer world”, to depict instead a raw and visceral experience of life as it was felt, rather than seen on the surface. Their paintings brim with emotive force, conveyed in particular through intense and non-naturalistic color palettes, loose brushwork, and thick textures. Covering the group’s stylistic tendencies, influences, and most important protagonists, this introductory book explores the Expressionist panorama of moods, ideas, and emotions and their abiding quest for deep authenticity.

A polymath of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) was a prolific artist, theorist, and writer whose works explored everything from religion to art theory to philosophy. His vast body of work includes altarpieces, portraits, self-portraits, watercolors, and books, but is most celebrated for its astonishing collection of woodcut prints, which transformed printmaking from an artisan practice into a whole new art form. Dürer’s woodcuts astonish in scale as much as detail. Through works such as Apocalypse and the Triumphal Arch for Emperor Maximilian I, he created dense, meticulous compositions that were much larger, much more finely cut, and far more complex than any earlier woodcut efforts. With an ambitious tonal and dynamic range, he introduced a new level of conceptual, emotional, and spiritual intensity. His two major woodcut series on Christ’s Passion, named The Large Passion and The Small Passion after their size, are particularly remarkable for their vivid human treatment of the Christian narrative. In his copper engraving, Melancholia I, meanwhile, Dürer created a startling vision of emotional ennui, often cited as a defining early image of a depressive or melancholic state.Ever inquisitive, Dürer absorbed ideas not only from masters and fellow artists in Germany but also from Italy, while his own influence extended across Europe for generations to come. In this essential TASCHEN introduction, we explore this pioneering figure’s complex practice, his omnivorous intellect, and the key works which shaped his enduring legacy.

Court painter to King Philip IV of Spain, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 1599 – August 6, 1660) is not only a leading light of the Spanish Golden Age, but among the most celebrated masters in all Western art history. Monet and Renoir, Corot and Courbet, Degas and Dalí all hailed his influence. Picasso was so inspired by his masterpiece Las Meninas that he painted 44 variations of it.Velázquez’s importance is found particularly in his naturalist approach, in contrast to the more ubiquitous idealized manner of his age. Early works included numerous “bodegones”, genre scenes of everyday life in early 17th century Spain, in which warm, rich tones and textures set off the most ordinary of subjects and humble of faces, such as Old Woman Frying Eggs.Later, his portraiture for the Royal Court brought the same naturalism to the highest echelons of society, marking a profound shift in the depiction of royalty with softer, more relaxed poses that offered his subjects a human warmth and character as much as a sense of grandeur. Velázquez’s most famous work, Las Meninas, was also painted in the royal court, but in its enigmatic composition raises many broader questions about reality and illusion and the relationship between the painter, painting, and viewer.This fresh TASCHEN Basic Art 2.0 edition introduces Velázquez through key works from throughout his career. From humble genre scenes to the royal portraits, the exquisite Rokeby Venus nude, and the ever-mysterious Las Meninas, we explore his exceptional attention to composition, masterful handling of tone, and his remarkable influence as, in Manet’s words, “the greatest painter of all.”

Court painter to King Philip IV of Spain, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 1599 – August 6, 1660) is not only a leading light of the Spanish Golden Age, but among the most celebrated masters in all Western art history. Monet and Renoir, Corot and Courbet, Degas and Dalí all hailed his influence. Picasso was so inspired by his masterpiece Las Meninas that he painted 44 variations of it.Velázquez’s importance is found particularly in his naturalist approach, in contrast to the more ubiquitous idealized manner of his age. Early works included numerous “bodegones”, genre scenes of everyday life in early 17th century Spain, in which warm, rich tones and textures set off the most ordinary of subjects and humble of faces, such as Old Woman Frying Eggs.Later, his portraiture for the Royal Court brought the same naturalism to the highest echelons of society, marking a profound shift in the depiction of royalty with softer, more relaxed poses that offered his subjects a human warmth and character as much as a sense of grandeur. Velázquez’s most famous work, Las Meninas, was also painted in the royal court, but in its enigmatic composition raises many broader questions about reality and illusion and the relationship between the painter, painting, and viewer.This fresh TASCHEN Basic Art 2.0 edition introduces Velázquez through key works from throughout his career. From humble genre scenes to the royal portraits, the exquisite Rokeby Venus nude, and the ever-mysterious Las Meninas, we explore his exceptional attention to composition, masterful handling of tone, and his remarkable influence as, in Manet’s words, “the greatest painter of all.”

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) is regarded as one of the key figures in 20th-century European art. A Modernist to his bones, he sent seismic waves through the art world with his hard-edged, intensely colored paintings and disseminated his ideas through Die Brücke art movement and the MUIM-Institut school of modernist painting, both of which he cofounded.Kirchner’s work reconciled past and present through an Expressionist prism, reflecting the latest avant-garde ideas in art, while exploring traditional academic approaches and subjects. His works tackled social, moral, and emotional questions with a fierce intensity. Distorted perspectives, rough lines, and unusual colors were mainstays of his practice, as well as a recurring interest in capturing the human form, whether in frenetic city vistas such as Berlin Street Scene (1913) or in his famously decadent studio.In this introductory book, we explore the stretch of Kirchner’s career through Germany and Switzerland, including his founding of Die Brücke, and his inclusion in the Nazis’ infamous “degenerate art” exhibition in 1937. Along the way, we’ll encounter vivid landscapes, stark nudes, intense urban settings, and, above all, a persistent emphasis on the emotional experience of painter and viewer.