A new way of appreciating art that puts the artwork front and centre, brought to us by one of the freshest and most exciting voices in cultural criticism.

What makes great art great? Why do some works pulse in the imagination, generation after generation, century after century? From Botticelli's Birth of Venus to Picasso's Guernica, some paintings and sculptures have become so famous, so much a part of who we are, that we no longer really look at them. We take their greatness for granted; our eyes have become near-obsolete. We need a new way of seeing.

Unsatisfied with traditional interpretations of masterpieces, which are so often interested only in learning about art, and not from it, Kelly Grovier combed the surface of revered works from the Terracotta Army to Frida Kahlo's self-portraits,

in a quest to find the key to their lasting power to move and delight us. He discovered that every truly great work is hardwired with an underappreciated detail that ignites it from deep within.

Stepping away from biography, style and the chronology of “isms” that preoccupies most art history, Grovier tells a new story in which we learn from the artworks, not just about them.

本书中的文化批评观点新鲜、激动人心，带给我们一种新的艺术欣赏方式——将艺术品放在首要位置。

是什么让伟大的艺术变得伟大？为什么有些作品能在人们的想象中持续一代又一代，一个世纪又一个世纪？从波提切利的《维纳斯的诞生》到毕加索的《格尔尼卡》，这些绘画和雕塑已经变得家喻户晓，成为了我们生活的一部分，以至于我们不再真正看到它们。我们认为它们的伟大是理所当然的；我们的眼睛已经变得陈旧。我们需要一种新的观察方式。

凯利·格罗维尔（Kelly Grovier）不满足于对杰作的传统解释，因为这种解释往往只对学习艺术感兴趣，而不是从艺术中学习，他梳理了从秦始皇兵马俑到弗里达·卡洛（Frida Kahlo）的自画像等备受尊敬的作品表面，以寻求其持久的力量来感动和愉悦我们。他发现，每一件真正伟大的作品深处都有一个未被重视的细节。

格罗维尔抛开了大多部分艺术史关注的传记、风格和各种“主义”年表，讲述了一个新的故事，在这个故事中，我们从艺术作品中学习，而不仅仅是了解它们。