Now available in an updated edition, this generously illustrated book is a tour of the most important Western paintings since the Renaissance. Spanning seven centuries, this selection of fifty iconic paintings offers readers a crash course in art history while presenting gorgeous colour reproductions that are a pleasure to contemplate. Starting with Giotto's Arena Chapel frescoes and continuing s Mona Lisa, Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, as well as works by Monet, van Gogh, Cassatt, Cezanne, Dali Kahlo, Hopper, Pollock, Rothko, and O'Keeffe, nearly every important painter is represented in this book. It features works that may be familiar to the eye, but whose histories are even more fascinating. Readers will learn about the painters who created them, the reasons for their importance and the places the paintings can be found. As entertaining as it is informative, this beautiful book is the perfect introduction to great paintings that have stood the test of time. AUTHOR: Kristina Lowis is an art historian at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Tamsin Pickeral is an art historian and author based in Suffolk, England.