As artists push further and further beyond their, and our, comfort zones, this book aims to help decipher the bizarre and often intimidating aspects of modern and contemporary art by exploring twenty works of art in terms of seven ‘keys’. History, biography, aesthetics, experience, theory, criticism and the market represent conventional ‘modes of existence’ for every artwork discussed, but in a fascinating variety of ways. Simon Morley shows how twenty well-known but little-understood works of art can serve as useful springboards not only for understanding each other, but also for appreciating works by the same artists, and from the wider world of art in general.

Rather than proceeding on the basis of familiar art ‘movements’ or ‘-isms’, Morley focuses on just twenty individual works of art, from Matisse’s The Red Studio to Doris Salcedo’s Untitled. Representing a variety of media, styles, subjects and intentions, being the creations of men and women of different periods and places, coming from disparate social and ethnic backgrounds, these works show a rich diversity in modern and contemporary art.

'Morley marshals ways of seeing and understanding that will give both the lay reader and the aficionado the tools for a deeper engagement with art and ideas' - Iwona Blazwick, Director, Whitechapel Gallery

Simon Morley is a visual artist and until 2023 was Assistant Professor in the College of Arts, Dankook University, Republic of Korea. As well as being author of three titles for Thames & Hudson – Modern Painting, Seven Keys to Modern Art and Writing on the Wall – he is also the author of The Simple Truth: The Monochrome in Modern Art and By Any Other Name: A Cultural History of the Rose. He has lectured at such museums as Tate, The National Gallery, Hayward Gallery, Serpentine Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery and Camden Arts Centre, and has contributed to numerous publications including Third Text, World Art, the TLS, The Burlington Magazine, Art Monthly, The Art Newspaper, Contemporary Art and the Independent on Sunday.